
Class _tr\^ 
Copyright N° 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



AMERICAN HISTORY IN 
LITERATURE 



Compiled by 
MARTHA AYLI^LANE 

AND 

MABEL HILL 

Teacher of History in the Lowell 
State Normal School 



GINN & COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON - 






OCT 80 jyUfr 

I COPY B. 



Copyright, 1905, by 
Martha A. L. Lane and Mabel Hill 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



GINN & COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS ■ BOSTON . U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

Between the covers of this volume the editors have 
brought together a number of simple literary excerpts 
which illustrate the leading events and the characteris- 
tic conditions that have marked the development of the 
United States. 

The value of these and similar side lights on the study 
of history has been demonstrated too often to need further 
proof. Every intelligent teacher of history makes more or 
less use of literature to give reality and vividness to per- 
sons, events, or conditions under consideration in the class 
room. Unfortunately, however, a good library is not always 
available, and even when suitable books are within reach 
the required material is widely scattered, and its selection 
requires time-'and effort both from teacher and pupil. 

The purpose of the editors has been to gather into com- 
pact form a large amount of illustrative material of this 
kind, — the first volume for children of ten and twelve 
years, the second for the higher grades. In this book at- 
tention has been given to historical and chronological data, 
appropriate blackboard quotations, and suggestive lists of 
helpful books which may be read in connection with the 
study of American history in elementary schools. 

The selections from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Greenleaf Whittier, Nathan- 
iel Hawthorne, Lew. Wallace, and Lucy Larcom are used 
by the kind permission of Houghton, Mifflin and Co. 



IV PREFACE 

We are permitted also by the kindness of the publishing 
houses named below to use the following selections: "The 
Boston Tea Party " and "Washington's Inaugural Journey," 
by Washington Irving, edited by John Fiske (Ginn & Com- 
pany) ; "The Song of Marion's Men," by William Cullen 
Bryant (D. Appleton & Co.); "The Man without a Coun- 
try," by Edward Everett Hale (Little, Brown & Co. and 
Lend a Hand); "The X-Rays," "The Phonograph," and 
"Liquid Air," by Ray Stannard Baker (McClure, Phillips 
& Co.) ; "Columbus," by Joaquin Miller (from the complete 
works of Joaquin Miller published by The Whitaker and 
Ray Company) ; " O Captain, my Captain," by Walt Whit- 
man (Small, Maynard & Co.); "The Opening of the Bea- 
ver Fair," by Mary Hart well Catherwood (A. C. McClurg 
& Co.) ; "The Shannon and the Chesapeake,'' by Thomas 
T. Bouve; "The Lick Observatory," by Edward S. Holden; 
and "The Story of the Atlantic Cable," by Cyrus W. Field 
(Perry Mason Co.) ; " School Children in the Philippines," 
by Adeline R. Knapp (Silver, Burdett & Co.) ; and "The 
Surrender at Oueenston Heights," by Benson J. Lossing 
(Harper & Brothers). 

For other selections we are indebted to John D. Long, 
Francis M. Finch, Frederick Chalmerson, Charles F. Dole, 
Jeremiah E. Rankin, and Theodore Roosevelt. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I. The New World, i 492-1 583 

Page 

The Island of Atlantis Plato 3 

Leif the Lucky Frederick Chalviersoii 5 

Ferdinand and Isabella Washington Irving 8 

Columbus Joaquin Miller 1 1 

Columbus Arthur Hugh Clough 13 

The Discovery of America Washington Irving 14 

The Reception of Columbus at Barcelona . . . Washington Irving 18 

The Shame of Montezuma Lew. Wallace 20 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert Henry W. Longfellow 22 

Chapter II. The New Homes, 1607-1675 

The Story of Pocahontas Martha A. L. Lane 26 

The Word of God to Leyden Came . . . Jeremiah Eames Rankin 34 

The Pilgrim Fathers John Pierpont 36 

The Landing of the Pilgrims Felicia Browne Hemans 38 

Miles Standish Henry W. Longfellow 40 

The First Thanksgiving Selected 42 

The Challenge Henry W. Longfellow 45 

Hiawatha Henry W. Longfellow 48 

The Captive Mary Rowlaiidson 51 

Philip of Pokanoket Washington Irving 52 

Chapter III. Colonial Life, 1678-1758 

The Opening of the Beaver Fair . . . Mary Hartwell Catherwood 58 

The Pine-Tree Shillings Nathaniel Hawthorne 61 

The Sunken Treasure Nathaniel Hawthorne 66 

The Acadians Henry W. Longfellow 72 

V 



vi CONTENTS 

Chapter IV. The Revolution, i 770-1 789 

Page 

The Boston Massacre Nathaniel Hawthorne 80 

The Boston Tea Party Washington Irvitig 84 

Allen's Capture of Ticonderoga George Bancroft 87 

Bunker Hill George H. Calvert 89 

Signing the Declaration of Independence .... George Lippard 91 

Song of Marion's Men IVilliam Cullen Bryant 94 

Nathan Hale Francis M. Finch 96 

Washington's Inaugural Journey Washington Irving 99 

Chapter V. The Union, i 798-1 830 

Hail Columbia Joseph Hopkinson 104 

The Constitution and the Guerriere Old Ballad 106 

The Surrender at Queenston Heights . . . Benson John Lossing 108 

The Shannon and the Chesapeake Thomas Tracy Bouve 1 1 1 

The Star-Spangled Banner Francis Scott A'ey 114 

The Man Without a Country Edward Everett Hale 116 

Old Ironsides Oliver Wendell Holmes 121 

Chapter VI. Keeping the Union, 1832-1852 

America Samuel Francis Smith 1 24 

A New England Sabbath Lucy Larcom 125 

To Arms Park Benjamin 128 

The Angels of Buena Vista John G. Whittier 130 

John Caldwell Calhoun Temple 134 

The Story of the Atlantic Cable Cyrus W. Field 135 

Daniel Webster Johji D. Long 140 

Chapter VII. The Civil War, 1861-1865 

The Cavalry Charge George Parsons Lathrop 146 

Dedication of Gettysburg Cemetery Abraham Lincoln 147 

Little Giffen of Tennessee Francis O. Ticknor 149 

O Captain ! my Captain ! Walt Whitman 150 

The Blue and the Gray Francis M. Finch 152 

Union and Liberty Oliver Wendell Holmes 154 

The Republic Henry W. Longfellow 155 



CONTENTS 



vu 



Chapter VIII. The Growth of the Nation, ^^^i-iQoS^^^ 

. M. A. Shorey 158 

The Chicago Fue. • QUver Wendell Holmes 160 

Welcome to the Nations . ^. . . ■ ■ O ^^^^^ ^^^ 

How the Children ,.ng the Bell Ed^^afd S. Holden 164 

A Modern Observatory jr'u,^ ,6, 

Ray Stannard Baker \<yi 

TheX-Rays A-,,. i-/^„;.ar^ ^<zXvr 168 

The Phonograph Ray Stannard Baker 169 

Liquid A^-" '.'.'.'....• Charles F. Dole 170 

The Flag . • • • ' ' ' " , ^. , , Theodore Roosevelt 171 

Captain Allyn Capron of the Rough Kiaers j,j,'„„^t, 17. 

School Children in the Philippines ^^./.«. ^^ A.«// 73 

, . , , . . Theodore Roosevelt 175 

Inaugural Address 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



Baker, Ray Stannard . 
Bancroft, George . . 
Benjamin, Park . . 
Bouve, Thomas Tracy 
Bryant, William Cullen 



Cable, George W. . . . 
Calvert, George H. 
Catherwood, Mary Hartwell 
Chalmerson, Frederick . 
Clough, Arthur Hugh 



Dole, Charles F. 



Field, Cyrus W. 
Finch, Francis M. 



Page 

167 

87 
128 
I II 

94 

161 

89 

58 

5 

13 

170 



135 
96, 152 



Hale, Edward Everett . . .116 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel . 61, 66, 80 
Hemans, Felicia Browne . . 38 

Holden, Edward S 164 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 121, 

154, 160 
Hopkinson, Joseph . . . .104 

Irving, Washington, 8, 14, 18, 

52, 84, 99 

Key, Francis Scott . . . .114 
Knapp, Adeline R. .... 173 



Page 

Lane, Martha A. L 26 

Larcom, Lucy 125 

Lathrop, George Parsons . .146 

Lincoln, Abraham 147 

Lippard, George 91 

Long, John D 140 

Longfellow, Henry W. 22, 40, 

45, 48, 72, 155 
Lossing, Benson John . . . 108 

Miller, Joaquin 11 

Pierpont, John 36 

Plato 3 



Rankin, Jeremiah frames 
Roosevelt, Theodore . 
Rowlandson, Mary . . 



171 



34 

175 

51 



Selected 42 

Shorey, M. A 158 

Smith, Samuel Francis . . .124 

Temple 134 

Ticknor, Francis 149 

Wallace, Lew 20 

Whitman, Walt 150 

Whittier, John G 130 



INTRODUCTION 

(From Channing and Hart's Guide to American History) 

Historical events and movements are frequently fixed in 
the memory by the perusal of books which may be inaccu- 
rate in themselves, especially as to details, but which, never- 
theless, leave a permanent and reasonably correct impression 
on the mind of the reader. Thus Keats' famous sonnet, in 
which he made the Conqueror of Mexico discover the Pacific 
Ocean, could not well be less in accordance with the histor- 
ical fact ; but it enforces the charm of discovery more in- 
tensely than the reading of many original letters and reports. 
There are critics, however, who think that when, as in this 
case, the facts are well known and easily to be discovered, 
it is the business of the story-teller or verse-maker to know 
what actually happened sufficiently well to make the his- 
torical basis of his story reasonably accurate. A famous 
American writer once said that the poet was indebted to 
history for the general fact only, around which he could 
build up his own imaginative work. Perhaps it is true that 
the novel-writer or poet produces the best and truest work 
when he is unhampered by the details of the real story and 
may aim to create only a general impression which shall be 
true to the general trend of history. Mrs. Austin carries 
the Mayjlozver s shallop into a cove in Clark's Island, where 
the narrative of Bradford forbids the idea that the shallop 
was ; the plan of the story, the author has said, made it 



X INTRODUCTION 

necessary for the boat to be at that particular place at the 
precise moment, and the spirit of the explorers is not 
affected by the deviation. Longfellow's "Miles Standish" 
would be painfully inaccurate and anachronistic as history ; 
but he adds a man to our affectionate acquaintance. Just 
how far it is safe to accept a picture of which the details 
are not true to the time, — whether the "general reader" of 
Mrs. Austin's tale or Longfellow's poem gains a truer and 
more lasting impression of the spirit of Pilgrim colonization 
than he or she would obtain from Doyle, or Bancroft, or 
still better from Bradford's epic itself, — is a question which 
the authors of the Guide do not answer. Certain it is that 
for all pupils and students of American history such books 
are useful in connection with accurate text-books, other 
secondary accounts, and especially as an adjunct to a mod- 
erate use of the sources which tell the same tale more 
simply. 



AMERICAN HISTORY IN 
LITERATURE 



CHAPTER I 

THE NEW WORLD 

Pope Alexander the syxte of that name gave and graunted to the 
Kynges of Castyle and theyr Successors the Regions and islands founde 
in the Weste Ocean sea by the navigators of the Spanyardes. — 1493 

" Brave Admiral, speak ; what shall I say?" 

" Why, say, ' Sail on ! sail on ! and on ! ' " — Miller 

We are as near heaven by sea as land. — Gilbert 

THE ISLAND OF ATLANTIS 
Plato 

Biographical Note. Plato was a Greek writer who lived more than 
two thousand years ago. He was one of the wisest men the world 
has ever known. All the great philosophers and thinkers since his 
day have studied his books, and treat his oj^inions with respect. 

Historical Note. It was a common tradition that somewhere in the 
western sea there had existed the island of Atlantis, which was finally 
overwhelmed by the waves and lost. This island may have been 
wholly imaginary, or the report of it may have come from some mar- 
iner who had caught a glimpse of an unknown land in the " Sea of 
Darkness." Plato puts the story into the mouth of an Egyptian 
priest, who is supposed to be addressing Solon of Athens. 

Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your 
state in our histories. For these histories tell of a mighty 
power which, unprovoked, made an expedition against the 

3 



4 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 

whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put 
an end. 

The power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in 
those days the Atlantic was navigable, and there was an 
island situated in front of the straits which are by you 
called the Pillars of Hercules ; the island was larger than 
Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other 
islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of 
the opposite continent which surrounds the true ocean; for 
this sea which is within the Straits of Hercules is only a 
harbor, having a narrow entrance ; but that other is a real 
sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a 
boundless continent. 

Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and 
■ wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and 
several others, and over parts of the continent ; and, further- 
more, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya 
within the columns of Hercules as far as Egypt, and of 
Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. 

This vast power, gathered into one, endeavored to sub- 
due at a blow our country and yours, and the whole of the 
region within the Straits; and then, Solon, your country 
shone forth in the excellence of her virtue and strenfi-th 
among all mankind. 

She was prominent in courage and military skill, and 
was the leader of the Hellenes ; and when the rest fell 
off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having 
undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and 
triumphed over the invaders and preserved from slavery 
those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liberated 
all the rest of us who dwell within the Pillars. 



THE NEW WORLD 5 

But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and 
floods ; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your 
warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island 
of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the 
sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassa- 
ble and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the 
way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island. 

From Pla/o^s Dialogues (translated by Benjamin Jowp:tt) 

LEIF THE LUCKY 

More than five hundred years before Christopher Colum- 
bus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean a band of brave 
Norsemen settled in Iceland. The country was barren and 
forbidding, but they were willing to face cold and hunger 
rather than bear the exactions of their ruler, Harold the 
Fair- Haired. 

Now it happened one bright day that a member of this 
company, whose name was Eric the Red, was exploring 
the ocean which seemed to stretch endlessly away to the 
westward. Suddenly there rose on the horizon line a dim 
shape that gradually took form and color. It was land green 
with summer verdure, and Eric, whose eyes were gladdened 
by the sight, named the country Greenland. Here a few 
years later he brought his family and friends to plant a 
colony. 

Eric had a son named Leif, afterwards known as " the 
Lucky," who went back to Norway and accepted the 
Christian religion. As time went on he became a favorite 
with King Olaf, and was finally sent to look up Eric's 
colony and bring Christianity into that far-off country. 



6 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 

In the year looo Leif started on his mission. Stormy 
seas delayed hhn and unknown currents drew him out of 
his course Baffled and bewildered, he was almost ready to 
despair when he saw land ahead. It was green and beauti- 
ful but it was not the coast he sought. Grapes and grain 
were growing Wild, and the trees were large enough to 
make frames for houses and ships. 

Later in the summer Leif reached Greenland and found 
his father. During the long winter evenings there was 

much talk of 
the beautiful 
land to the 
south, and the 
next season 
Leif, with 
seventy men, 
set off to look 
for the coun- 
try of the wild 
grapes. Before 

many days had gone by they came to a rough, rocky coast 
which they named Ledgeland. The soil was evidently poor 
and thin, 'so they pushed on until again they saw land. 
This was level and well wooded, with a wide white sandy 
beach. Leif named it Markland, — without doubt the same 
shore which to-day is known as Nova Scotia. 

Ao-ain Leif ordered his men to set sail, and after two 
days^nd two nights they came upon a little island not far 
from the mouth of a fair-sized river. Up the river they 
sailed, and pitched their camp beside a lake. The country 
was fertile and the air was mild ; wild grapes grew m great 







Norse Ship of Tenth Century 



THE NEW WORLD 7 

abundance, and in the river large numbers of salmon were 
found. Its exact location is not easy to determine, though it 
was in all likelihood somewhere on the New England coast. 
Leif named the place Vinland the Beautiful, and planned to 
bring thither a great colony; but his plans came to naught. 
When he returned to Greenland he was welcomed as a 
hero, and doubtless would have brought back a large fol- 
lowing had not his father's death laid new cares and re- 
sponsibilities upon him. Leif the Lucky never returned to 
the land he had discovered, and his brother, who tried to 
continue the exploration of Vinland, was killed by savage 
natives. . 

In the year 1007 an Icelander, his wife, and sixty-three 
companions sailed from Greenland and safely reached the 
place where Leif had camped. Here they lived for three 
or four years, and here the first white child born in America 
came to gladden their hearts. A little later another small 
colony lived for a short time in Vinland, but the savages 
were too troublesome for a long stay. 

From this time on there were no successful trips to Vin- 
land, although settlement there was often talked of. As 
late as i 347 a ship started from Greenland for Leif Eric- 
son's country, and even reached Markland ; but it drifted 
from its course and finally arrived at Iceland. This is the 
last record of any attempt to visit Vinland the Beautiful. 

From a translation by Frederick Chalmerson. {Adapted) 



8 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1492- 

FERDINAND AND ISABELLA 

Washington Irving 

Biographical Note. Washington Irving, the first American author 
to win attention in Europe, was born in New York in 1783. Although 
he lived abroad many years, his later life was spent in his cottage 
on the Hudson, among the scenes he loved best. He wrote a humor- 
ous history of New York, Life of Columbus, and The Sketch Book, 
besides numerous essays and tales. Irving died in 1859. 

Historical Note. About four hundred and fifty years ago all the 
merchants of Europe were eager to find a new way to the East Indies. 
Spices, silks, pearls, and jewels came from India and were brought 
upon the backs of camels across the deserts to the Mediterranean 
Sea. It was a long journey, and often the caravans met robbers on 
the way. No one knew at this time that it was possible to sail 
around Africa. Many ships had made the attempt, but none had 
succeeded, and the voyage promised to be a very long one, should it 
be possible at all. 

Now there were a few wise men who thought that the world was 
round, and a young Italian sailor named Christopher Columbus came 
to believe in this new and wonderful theory. " If the world is round," 
thought Columbus, " I can reach the East by sailing west." This 
seemed plain to him, but he found great difficulty in making others 
think as he did. He had no money to buy ships and hire sailors, and 
for a long time he tried in vain to rouse some interest in his plan. 
At last Ferdinand and Isabella, king and queen of Spain, consented 
to help him ; but even then it was seven years before he was given 
money to fit out the little fleet that was to become famous. 

The time when Columbus- sought his fortunes at the 
court of Spain was one of the most brilhant periods of the 
Spanish monarchy. The union of the kingdoms of Aragon 
and Castile, by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, had 
consolidated the Christian power in the peninsula and put 
an end to those internal feuds which had so long distracted 
the country. The Moors, who had once spread over the 



1583] 



THE NEW WORLD 



whole country like an inundation, were now pent up within 
the mountain boundaries of the kingdom of Granada. The 
victorious armies of Ferdinand and Isabella were continually 



/J. . . * ii J <i.i,i I . 




The World as known shortly before and shortly after the 
Sailing of Columbus 

advancing and pressing this fierce people within narrower 
limits. Under these sovereigns the various petty kingdoms 
of Spain began to feel and act as one nation, and to rise 
to eminence in arts as well as arms. 



10 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i492- 

Ferdinand was of middle stature, well proportioned, and 
hardy and active from athletic exercise. His carriage was 
free, erect, and majestic. He had a clear, serene forehead, 
which appeared more lofty from his head being partly bald. 
His eyebrows were large and parted, and, like his hair, of 
a bright chestnut ; his eyes were clear and animated ; his 
complexion was somewhat ruddy, and scorched by the toils 
of war ; his mouth moderate, well formed, and gracious in 
its expression ; his teeth white, though small and irregular ; 
his voice sharp ; his speech quick and fluent. He was 
simple in dress and diet, equable in temper, devout in his 
religion, and so indefatigable in business that it was said he 
seemed to repose himself by working. 

Isabella is one of the most beautiful characters in the 
pages of history. She was well formed, of middle size, 
with great dignity and gracefulness of deportment and a 
mingled gravity and sweetness of demeanor. Her complex- 
ion was fair ; her hair auburn, inclining to red ; her eyes 
were of a clear blue, with a benign expression, and there 
was a singular modesty in her countenance, gracing, as it 
did, a wonderful firmness of purpose and earnestness of 
spirit. Though strongly attached to her husband, and stu- 
dious of his fame, yet she always maintained her distinct 
rights as an allied prince. She exceeded him in beauty, 
in personal dignity, in acuteness of genius, and in grandeur 

01 soul. From Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus 



1583] THE NEW WORLD II 

COLUMBUS 
Joaquin Miller 

Biographical Note. Joaquin Miller is an American poet. Much of 
his life has been spent in the West and many of his poems are about 
that part of the country. He was born in 1841. 

Historical Note. Columbus was made admiral of the little fleet con- 
sisting of the three caravels, — Santa Maria, Pinta, and Nina. 

On the morning of August 3, 1492, the ships sailed out of the 
harbor of Palos, Spain. The party consisted of ninety sailors and 
thirty noblemen, among them the Pinzon family, who had been of 
much aid to Columbus in making ready the expedition. After visit- 
ing for three weeks the Canary Islands, the last known land in the 
" Sea of Darkness," the brave admiral, with his charts, compass, and 
improved astrolabe, steered for the open ocean. He believed him- 
self sent by Heaven to accomplish the great work of finding a new 
westward passage to the Orient. As the days passed and no land 
was sighted, the sailors were terrified, and threatened mutiny. Becom- 
ing more and more in awe of the great lonely sea, they lost faith in 
their admiral and threatened to turn the ship back, but Columbus 
begged for one day more. 

Behind him lay the gray Azores, 

Behind the Gates of Hercules ; 
Before him not the ghost of shores, 

Before him only shoreless seas. 
The good mate said : " Now must we pray, 

For, lo ! the very stars are gone. 
Brave Admiral, speak; what shall I say.''" 

" Why, say, ' Sail on ! sail on ! and on ! ' " 

" My men grow mutinous day by day ; 

My men grow ghastly wan and weak." 
The stout mate thought of home ; a spray 

Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. 



12 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i492- 

" What shall I say, brave Admiral, say. 
If we sight naught but seas at dawn ? " 

" Why, you shall say at break of day, 
' Sail on ! sail on ! sail on ! and on ! '" 

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, 

Until at last the blanched mate said : 
" Why, now not even God would know 

Should I and all my men fall dead. 
These very winds forget their way, 

For God from these dread seas is gone. 
Now speak, brave Admiral, speak, and say " — 

He said, " Sail on ! sail on ! and on ! " 

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate : 

" This mad sea shows his teeth to-night. 
He curls his lip, he lies in wait 

With lifted teeth, as if to bite ! 
Brave Admiral, say but one good word : 

What shall we do when hope is gone?" 
The words leapt like a leaping sword : 

" Sail on ! sail on ! sail on ! and on ! " 

Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, 

And peered through darkness. Ah, that night 
Of all dark nights ! And then a speck — 

A light ! A light ! A light ! A light ! 
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled ! 

It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. 
He gained a world ; he gave that world 

Its grandest lesson : " On ! sail on ! " 



1583] THE NEW WORLD 1 3 

COLUMBUS 
Arthur Hugh Clough 

Biographical Note. Arthur Hugh Clough was an English poet of 
the nineteenth century. He spent much of his childhood in the 
United States, but later was sent to Rugby, and was a favorite pupil 
of Dr. Arnold's. For a short time he taught and lectured in Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts. He died in 1861. 

Historical Note. The courage of Columbus in carrrying out an 
undertaking so full of doubt and danger makes us class him with the 
greatest men of the world. As the days went on and no land was 
sighted, it is little wonder that the ignorant sailors cried out to him 
in terror, " Are there no graves in Spain, that you should bring us 
here to perish ? " 

How in Heaven's name did Columbus get over 

Is a pure wonder to me, I protest ; 
Cabot, and Raleigh too, that well-read rover, 
Frobisher, Dampier, Drake, and the rest. 

Bad enough all the same, 

For them that after came, 

But, in great Heaven's name, 

How Jie should ever think 

That on the other brink 
Of this wild waste, terra firma should be, 
Is a pure wonder, I must say, to me. 

How a man ever should hope to get thither. 

E'en if he knew that there was another side ; 
But to suppose he should come any whither, 
Sailing straight on into chaos untried, — 
In spite of the motion 
Across the whole ocean, 
To stick to the notion 



14 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [h92- 

That in some nook or bend 

Of a sea without end 
He should find North and South America, 
Was a pure madness, indeed I must say. 

What if wise men had, as far back as Ptolemy, 

Judged that the earth like an orange was round, 
None of them ever said, " Come along, follow me. 
Sail to the West, and the East will be found." 

Many a day before 

Ever they 'd come ashore. 

Sadder and wiser men 

They 'd have turned back again ; 
And that Jic did not, but did cross the sea. 
Is a pure wonder, I must say, to me. 

THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 

Washington Irving 

Historical Note. On the morning of October 12, 1492, Columbus 
discovered land, the island of Guanahani, — one of the Bahama 
group. This land of the Indies, as he thought it, he named San 
Salvador, — or the Holy Redeemer, — taking possession of it in the 
name of the king and queen of Spain. 

On writing to Madrid he said, " I gave the name of the blessed 
Saviour, relying upon whose protection I had reached this as well as 
other islands." 

This island is probably that now known as Watling Island. 

The breeze had been fresh all day, with more sea than 
usual, and they had made great progress. At sunset they 
had stood again to the west and were plowing the waves 
at a rapid rate, the Pint a keeping the lead, from her 



1583] 



THE NEW WORLD 



15 



superior sailing. The greatest animation prevailed through- 
out the ships ; not an eye was closed that night. As the 
evening darkened, Columbus took his station on the top of 
the cabin of his vessel, ranging his eye along the dusky 
horizon and maintaining an intense and unremitting watch. 

About ten o'clock he thought he beheld a light glim- 
mering at a great distance. Fearing that his eager hopes 
might deceive him, 
he called to Pedro, 
a gentleman of the 
king's bedchamber, 
and inquired 
whether he saw a 
light in that direc- 
tion. The latter 
replied in the 
affirmative. Colum- 
bus, yet doubtful 
whether it might 
not be some delu- 
sion of the fancy, 
called still another 
and made the same 
inquiry. By the 
time the latter had ascended the roundhouse the light 
had disappeared. 

They saw it once or twice afterwards, in sudden and pass- 
ins: erleams, as if it were a torch in the bark of a fisherman, 
rising and sinking with the waves, or in the hand of some 
person on shore, borne up and down as he walked from 
house to house. So transient and uncertain were these 




Christopher Columbus 



l6 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1492- 

gleams that few attached any importance to them. Colum- 
bus, however, considered them as certain signs of land, and, 
moreover, that the land was inhabited. 

They continued their course until two in the morning, 
when a gun from the Phita gave the joyful signal of land. 
It was first discovered by a mariner named Rodrigo; but 
the reward was afterwards adjudged to Columbus for hav- 
ing previously perceived the hght. The land was now 
clearly seen about two leagues distant ; whereupon they 
took in sail and laid to, waiting impatiently for the dawn. 

The thoughts and feelings of Columbus in this little 
space of time must have been tumultuous and intense. 
At length, in spite of every difficulty and danger, he had 
accomplished his object ; the great mystery of the ocean 
was revealed ; his theory, which had been the scoff of 
sages, was triumphantly established ; he had secured to 
himself a glory as dural)le as the world itself. 

It is difficult to conceive the feelings of such a man 
at such a moment, or the conjectures which must have 
thronged upon his mind as to the land before him, covered 
with darkness. That it was fruitful was evident from the 
vegetables which floated from its shores. He thought, too, 
that he perceived the fragrance of aromatic groves. The 
moving light he had beheld proved it the residence of man. 
But what were its inhabitants } 

Were they like those of the other parts of the globe } or 
were they some strange and monstrous race, such as the 
imagination was prone in those days to give to all remote 
and unknown regions } Had he come upon some wild 
island far in the Indian Sea .? or was this the famed Ci- 
pango itself, the object of his golden fancies ? A thousand 



J583J THE NEW WORLD 1/ 

speculations of the kind must have swarmed upon him, as, 
with his anxious crews, he waited for the night to pass 
away, wondering whether the morning light would reveal a 
savage wilderness or dawn upon spicy groves, and glittering 
fanes, and gilded cities, and all the splendor of oriental 
civilization. 

It was on Friday morning, the 12th of October, 1492, 
that Columbus first beheld the New World. As the day 
dawned he saw before him a level island several leagues in 
extent and covered with trees like a continuous orchard. 
Though apparently uncultivated, it was populous, for the 
inhabitants were seen issuing from all parts of the woods 
and running to the shore. 

Columbus made signal for the ships to cast anchor and 
the boats to be manned and armed. He entered his own 
boat, richly attired in scarlet and holding the royal stand- 
ard. As he approached the shore he was delighted with 
the purity and suavity of the atmosphere, the crystal trans- 
parency of the sea, and the extraordinary beauty of the 
vegetation. On landing, he threw himself on his knees, 
kissed the earth, and with tears of joy returned thanks 

to God. 

From Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus 



I8 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i492- 

THE RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS AT BARCELONA 

Washington Irving 

Historical Note. After coasting about among the neighboring 
islands, Columbus started on his return voyage in January, 1493- He 
had lost one of his ships, and the others met terrible storms, but the 
journey was safely accomplished. 

About the middle of April Columbus arrived at Bar- 
celona, where every preparation had been made to give him 
a solemn and magnificent reception. His entrance into this 
noble city has been compared to one of those triumphs 
which the Romans were accustomed to decree to con- 
querors. First were paraded the Indians, painted accord- 
ing to their savage fashion and decorated with ornaments 
of o-old. After these were borne various kinds of live par- 
rots, together with stuffed birds and animals of unknown 
species tnd rare plants supposed to be of precious qualities ; 
while great care was taken to make a conspicuous display 
of IndFan coronets, bracelets, and other decorations of gold, 
which might give an idea of the wealth of the newly discov- 
ered regions. After this followed Columbus on horseback, 
surroun'ded by a brilliant cavalcade of Spanish chivalry. 

The streets were almost impassable from the countless 
multitude ; the windows and balconies were crowded with 
the fair ; the very roofs were covered with spectators. It 
seemed as if the public eye could not be sated with gazing 
on these trophies of an unknown world, or on the remark- 
able man by whom it had been discovered. 

To receive him with suitable pomp and distinction, the 
sovereigns had ordered their throne to be placed in pub- 
lic, under a rich canopy of brocade of gold, in a vast and 



1583] THE NEW WORLD 19 

splendid saloon. Here the king and queen awaited his 
arrival, seated in state, with the prince Juan beside them, 
and attended by the dignitaries of their court and the princi- 
pal nobility of Castile, Valencia, Catalonia, and Aragon, all 
impatient to behold the man who had conferred so incal- 
culable a benefit upon the nation. 

At length Columbus entered the hall, surrounded by a 
brilliant crowd of cavaliers, among whom he was conspicu- 
ous for his stately and commanding person, which, with his 
countenance rendered venerable by his gray hairs, gave him 
the august appearance of a senator of Rome. As Columbus 
approached, the sovereigns rose, as if receiving a person 
of the highest rank. Bending his knees, he offered to kiss 
their hands ; but there was some hesitation on their part to 
permit this act of homage. Raising him in the most gra- 
cious manner, they ordered him to seat himself in their pres- 
ence, — a rare honor in this proud and punctilious court. 

At their request he now gave an account of the most 
striking events of his voyage and a description of the 
islands discovered. When he had finished, the sovereigns 
sank on their knees, and raising their clasped hands to 
heaven, their eyes filled with tears of joy and gratitude, 
poured forth thanks and praises to God for so great a 
providence. All present followed their example, while an 
anthem, chanted by the choir of the royal chapel, rose in a 
full body of sacred harmony. Such was the solemn and 
pious manner in which the brilliant court of Spain cele- 
brated this sublime event, — offering up a grateful tribute 
of melody and praise, and giving glory to God for the dis- 
covery of another world. 

From Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus 



20 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1492- 

THE SHAME OF MONTEZUMA 
Lew. Wallace 

Biographical Note. Lew. Wallace (1827-1905) was an American 
novelist who gained the rank of general in the Civil War. He was 
the author of Ben-Hur and The Fair God. 

Historical Note. On November 8, 1519, "a conspicuous day in 
history," Cortes with his allied soldiers entered Mexico. The Aztec 
emperor, Montezuma, with a glittering retinue, met this army as they 
entered the heart of the capital. After enjoying a week of royal hos- 
pitality, Cortes conceived the daring plan of seizing Montezuma and 
himself becoming the ruler of Mexico. This was finally accomplished, 
but only after a long and stubborn resistance. At one time the defeat 
of the Spaniards seemed certain, and Cortes saved himself by an un- 
manly device. 

Montezuma was forced to appear in royal state before his people, 
and as if he were still king, to order the fighting to cease. At first 
there was silence and obedience ; then there came an outburst of rage 
in which Montezuma was struck down by his own subjects. He died 
soon afterwards of wretchedness and despair. 

In 1 521 the Aztec empire fell and Mexico became a Spanish 
province. 

Seven days the assault went on, — a week of fighting, 
intermitted only at night, under cover of which the Aztecs 
carried off their dead and wounded, the former to the lake, 
the latter to the hospitals. Among the Christians some 
there were who had seen grand wars ; but, as they freely 
averred, never had they seen such courage, devotion, and 
endurance, such indifference to wounds and death, as here. 
At times the struggle was hand to hand ; then, standing 
upon their point of honor, the infidels perished by scores 
in vain attempts to take alive whom they might easily have 
slain ; and this it was, — this fatal point of honor, — more 
than superiority in any respect, that made great battles so 



1583] THE NEW WORLD 2t 

bloodless to the Spaniards. Still, nearly all of the latter 
were wounded, a few disabled, and seven killed outright, 
. . . Next day there was not one meal in the palace. Star- 
vation had come. And now the final battle or surrender ! 
Morning passed ; noon came ; later, the sun began to go down 
the sky. In the streets stood the thousands, — on all the 
house tops, on the temple, they stood, — waiting and looking. 

Suddenly a procession appeared on the central turret of 
the palace, and in its midst Montezuma. 

" The king ! the king ! " burst from every throat ; then 
upon the multitude fell a silence which could not have been 
deeper if the earth had opened and swallowed the city. 

The four heralds waved their silver wands, the white car- 
pet was spread, and the canopy brought and set close by the 
eastern battlement of the turret ; then the king came and 
stood in the shade before the people. At sight of him and 
his familiar royalty the old love came back to them, and they 
fell upon their knees. He spoke, asserting his privileges ; 
he bade them home and the army to its quarters. He 
promised that in a short time the strangers, whose guest 
he was, would leave the country ; they were already prepar- 
ing to depart, he said. How wicked the revolt would then 
be ! How guilty the chiefs who had taken arms against his 
order ! He spoke as one not doubtful of his position, but 
as king and priest, and was successful. Stunned, confused, 
uncertain as to duty, nigh broken-hearted, the fighting peo- 
ple and disciplined companies arose, and, like a conquered 

mob, turned to go away. 

From T/ie Fair God. (Abridged) 



22 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1492- 

SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT 
Henry W. Longfellow 

Biographical Note. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the best 
known of American poets, was born in Portland, Maine, in 1807. 
For many years he was professor of modern languages at Harvard. 
Almost everything that he wrote received a warm welcome not only 
in his own country but also in Europe, and he is often called the poet 
laureate of America. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1882. 

Historical Note. There was living in England, in the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth, a brave nobleman. Sir Humphrey Gilbert. His 
half-brother was Sir Walter Raleigh, whose name is also famous in 
history. Gilbert knew that the fisheries in Newfoundland were very 
valuable and he wished to claim that region for the English crown. 
He thought that the right way to do this was to encourage English 
people to settle on this island and make homes for them.selves in the 
new country. 

He found more than two hundred men to go with him, and the 
queen gave him a royal charter. He reached the American coast in 
August, 1583, and took possession of the island in the name of the 
queen. After the custom of the time a twig and a bit of sod from the 
island were presented to him, the banner of England was hoisted, 
and the royal arms, cut in lead, were fastened to a wooden post near 
the water's edge. 

Troubles soon arose, however, and Gilbert sailed away to explore 
further. A storm wrecked his largest ship, and at last he decided 
to go home. His own little vessel, the Squirrel, met with the fate 
described below. Her companion ship carried to England the sad 
tidings. 

Southward with fleet of ice 

Sailed the corsair Death ; 
Wild and fast blew the blast, 

And the east wind was his breath. 

His lordly ships of ice 
Glisten in the sun ; 



1583] THE NEW WORLD 23 

On each side, like pennons wide, 
Flashing crystal streamlets run. 

His sails of white sea mist 

Dripped with silver rain ; 
But where he passed there were cast 

Leaden shadows o'er the main. 

Eastward from Campobello 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed ; 
Three days or more seaward he bore, 

Then, alas ! the land wind failed. 

Alas ! the land wind failed. 

And ice-cold grew the night ; 
And nevermore, on sea or shore. 

Should Sir Humphrey see the light. 

He sat upon the deck, 

The Book was in his hand ; 
"Do not fear! Heaven is as near," 

He said, "by water as by land ! " 

In the first watch of the night, 

Without a signal's sound, 
Out of the sea, mysteriously, 

The fleet of Death rose all around. 

The moon and the evening star 

"Were hanging in the shrouds ; 
Every mast, as it passed, 

Seemed to rake the passing clouds. 



24 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 

They grappled with their prize, 
At midnight black and cold ! 

As of a rock was the shock ; 

Heavily the ground-swell rolled. 

Southward through day and dark, 
They drift in close embrace. 

With mist and rain, o'er the open main ; 
Yet there seems no change of place. 

Southward, forever southward. 

They drift through dark and day ; 

And like a dream, in the Gulf Stream 
Sinking, vanish all away. 



Selections from Prose and Poetry- 
Columbus. SiGOURNEY. 

Columbus. — Lowell. 
Ten Great Events. — Johonnot. 
Stories of Our Country. — Johonnot. 
Stories of Great Americans. — Eggleston. 

Books for Children 

Old Times in the Colonies. — Coffin. 
Indian History for Young Folks. — Drake. 
Colonial Children. — Hart. 
By Right of Conquest.- — Henty. 
Samuel De Champlain. — Sedgwick. 

Teacher's List 

The Viking Age. — Chaillu. 
Columbus. — Irving. 
Conquest of Mexico. — Prescott. 
Pioneers of France. — Parkman. 
Jesuits in North America. — Parkman. 
Discovery of America. — Fiske. 



CHAPTER II 

THE NEW HOMES 

Lo, the poor Indian ! whose untutored mind 
Sees God in clouds or hears him in the wind. 

Alexander Pope 

Here nature and liberty afford us that freely which in England we 
want, or it costeth us dearly. — Captain John Smith 

My Fathers and Brethren, this is never to be forgotten, that New 
England is originally a plantation of Religion, not a plantation of 
Trade — John Higginson 

Out the anchor, sail no more. 
Lay us by the Future's shore — 
Not the shore we sought, 'tis true, 
But the time is come to do. 
Leap, dear Standish, leap and wade ; 
Bradford, Hopkins, Tilley, wade ! 
Leap and wade ashore and kneel — 
God be praised that steered the keel ! 
Home is good and soft is rest. 
Even in this jagged West ; 
Freedom lives and Right shall stand ; 
Blood of Faith is in the land. — Sidney Lanier 

Cotton for their coloring. 
Hooker for their fishing. 
And Stone for their building. — T. Dwight 

God sifted a whole nation that he might send a choice grain over 
into this wilderness. — Stoughton 

25 



26 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1607- 

It cannot be denied that with America and in America a new era 
commences in human affairs. — Webster 

They in Newman's barn laid down 
Scripture foundations for the town. 

Old verses [nJ>on t/ie founding of the New Haven colony) 

I see it now, that one solitary, adventurous vessel, the Mayflower 
of a forlorn hope, freighted with the prospects of a future state. 

Edward Everett 

New England was the colony of conscience. — John Quincy Adams 

O strong hearts and true ! not one went back in the Mayflower ! 
No, not one looked back who had set his hand to this plowing. 

Longfellow 

THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS 
Martha A. L. Lane 

Historical Note. During the troublous months occupied in the 
settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, 1607-1608, the colony would 
have gone to ruin had it not been for the courage and shrewd wisdom 
of Captain John Smith, then a man under thirty years of age. He was 
at one time, he says, taken prisoner by the Indians, and would have 
been killed if Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief, had not begged 
for his life. There is some doubt as to the authenticity of the story. 

Pocahontas afterwards married an Englishman, John Rolfe. With 
him she visited England, where she died. Many Virginians are proud 
to trace their descent from this Indian woman. 

The following scene, though founded on historical fact, is in itself 
fictitious. 

The fallen leaves had drifted in great heaps upon the 
soft green velvet of an PZnglish lawn, and were floating 
upon the placid waters of the Thames, which wound silently 
along at the foot of the garden. In the clear air there was 
a sharp chill which quickened the steps of a young man 
pacing back and forth by the edge of the river. 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 2/ 

It was at Richmond, England, in the year 1610. King 
James was then lying at Stirling Castle, and his Royal 
Highness, Henry, Prince of Wales, was enjoying himself, 
after his fashion, at his own house. It was a very innocent 
and simple fashion, and the prince himself was a pleasant- 
faced, auburn-haired young man, dressed in a plain suit of 
rough gray frieze. He was straight and broad-shouldered, 
with the keen eyes and good muscles of a healthy athlete. 
He looked up quickly as a man brushed his way through a 
small thicket on the bank above him. 

"Ah, my good Sir Thomas," he cried with boyish eager- 
ness, "has the redoubtable captain at last arrived.''" 

" He has, your Highness," the chamberlain answered with 
deference. " Is it your pleasure to see him here ? " 

" Ay," said the prince ; " I can ever talk and listen better 
in the fresh air, thou knowest. When I am king I shall 
summon Parliament itself to an out-of-door sitting." 

The chamberlain discreetly gazed at the distant palace, 
that his young master might not perceive how greatly scan- 
dalized he was at such a proposal. 

"Make haste and fetch him," his Highness went on 
rapidly. " And harkye, my lord ! come not through this 
good man's harvest field a second time. I fear me you have 
ruined his corn with your heavy boots." 

" Your Highness was in haste," began Sir Thomas, but 
Henry interrupted him with a good-natured laugh. " My 
haste must never make a poor man's waste," he said ; and 
one might have noticed a slight impediment in his speech. 
"We princes are likely to be selfish, heedless folk, at the 
best. Now go, good Challoner, and bid Captain Smith join 
me here." 



28 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i607- 

Sir Thomas, right glad in his heart to be let off so easily, 
was about to retrace his steps, when he suddenly stopped. 

"The man is an impatient boor," he muttered. "He 
will be here in another minute." 

Henry scrambled boyishly up the bank to see for him- 
self. Marching along, with a stride that was almost a swag- 
ger, was an oddly picturesque figure clad in a tawny doublet, 
with jerkin and hose of the same color. His bristling hair 
and whiskers gave him a curiously theatrical look, which was, 
in part, carried out by his bearing. He approached with a 
confidence which barely fell short of impudence, yet with 
a certain dignity which, in its turn, commanded respect. 
He looked with evident surprise at the tall young prince. 

"Your Highness will forgive me," said he with a gallant 
sweep of his great hat, as his knee touched for an instant 
the turf before the royal lad. "When Raleigh spoke of his 
' dear boy,' I looked to find you playing ball." 

" Since you come from my friend Sir Walter, you are 
indeed forgiven and most welcome," said Henry courte- 
ously. " I trust you left him well." 

" Well, in truth, but far from happy," his guest answered 
with sudden seriousness. " One does not find the Tower a 
cheerful place of residence, your Highness." 

"There you are right. Captain John Smith," Henry cried 
warmly. " None but my father would keep such a bird in a 
cage. Nay, good Challoner, thou knowest I am a loyal son 
on every question but this." 

Sir Thomas coughed behind his hand in some embarrass- 
ment. " Come, come," Henry went on ; "leave us to our- 
selves a little, my Lord Chamberlain. You care not for such 
wild stories as I am assured this famous captain can tell 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 29 

me. I will return before the hour is up. And now, sir," 
he went on, " I scarcely know where to ask you to begin." 

" It makes little difference," said the captain, smiling at 
the lad's impetuous manner. "My life has been one long 
adventure." 

" Yes," cried Henry, eager to prove himself familiar 
with his new friend's history. "I have heard of the Turk's 
heads, and the lady Tragabizanda, and how you were 
treated like Jonah and thrown overboard." 

"And has your Highness heard of Pocahontas.''" asked 
Captain Smith, with a gleam of amusement in his eyes. 

"I cannot say it," said Henry, laughing; "but if it is 
about your life in America, then that is what I want to 
hear." 

" I would that I could carry you with me into the heart 
of that great, silent forest," Smith began as easily as if 
story-telling to a prince were an everyday affair. " There 
is nothing like it in all England. Fancy the wide river with 
no sails upon it, the beautiful but desolate shores, the vast 
stretch of unknown sea, the coast line which no eye can 
follow, and the impenetrable woods where one wanders for 
days without sight of human life." 

" Go on," said Henry, his face alight with interest. 
Smith was drawing with his heel in the loose sand an out- 
line of the Virginia coast. 

"There," said he, "is the river." 

"Ay, my father's river," assented Henry. 

" It is named for his Majesty," Smith said a little dryly. 
"And here is the fort and settlement. About fifteen miles 
to the northeast is an Indian village. Here lives the Pow- 
hatan, or the great chief." 



30 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i607- 

" What is the village like ? " Henry asked. 

"A dozen or more long houses are pleasantly seated on 
a hill," Smith explained. " They are shaped like an arbor 
over a garden walk, and covered with large sheets of bark 
which overlap each other. There are no chimneys, but 
at the top of the house, at the crown of the arch, there is 
an opening a foot wide for the escape of the smoke and to 
light the dwelling. The fires are on the ground in a line 
down the middle of the house. Sometimes more than 
twenty families lodge in one of these houses. The Indians 
themselves — " 

"Ay, I know how they look," interrupted Henry. "My 
father has many curious pictures of his new subjects. 
But the adventure — " 

" It was not quite two years ago," Smith began obedi- 
ently. " I had been sent to trade with the Indians for 
some corn. And corn in America, your Royal Highness 
may remember, is not wheat, as in this country, nor oats, 
as in Scotland, but a large kernel which grows swathed in 
silk upon a heavy cob. The Indians had so much to tell 
me of the interior of the country that I determined on an 
exploring expedition. With two Indian guides and one 
white man I set off in a frail canoe. 

" It was about the middle of December, and the swamp 
in which we found ourselves was chilly and dismal. We 
had made but little progress, when one day a band of two 
hundred yelling Indians fell upon us, and after killing my 
comrade, took me prisoner and tied me to the trunk of a 
tree in order to torture me to death. 

" I had with me a small pocket compass, of which I for- 
tunately bethought me. I showed the savages the tiny 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 3 1 

needle quivering to its place no matter how they turned 
and twisted the glass. The glass itself was the greater 
marvel to them, and when I seized the chance to give 
them a discourse on the wonders of the heavens, they 
began to look upon me with something of awe and respect. 
Presently they untied the thongs which bound me and led 
me away with them." 

" Why should the savages have attacked you so fiercely .'* " 
Henry asked. 

" Rumor saith that an Indian was kidnapped by a white 
captain some years ago," said Smith, "and it may be that 
they suspected me of being responsible. If such a thing 
happened it must have been one of Gilbert's company. 
There seemed to be some effort to identify me with a taller 
man. On the other hand, such is the natural ferocity of 
these barbarians that possibly it is their custom to receive 
all strangers in this fashion." 

"Truly, a hospitable country," was Henry's comment. 
" But make haste, my captain. Time presses." 

" I was finally brought into the presence of the Powha- 
tan himself. He was sitting on a low bench with his feet 
almost in the embers of the fireplace. His robe was made 
of the fur of some small animals, whose tails, being left on, 
dangled like tassels. Near the walls were a row of women 
with their faces and shoulders painted a bright red, while 
in front of them stood the warriors of the tribe. 

" Shortly after my entrance two big stones were placed 
before the chief, and after some consultation I was taken 
forcibly and laid upon them. Then the grim file of war- 
riors moved slowly forward, each bearing his club uplifted, 
when suddenly — " 



32 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i607- 

" What ? " asked Henry breathlessly, as the older man 
paused for greater effect. 

" — When out rushed the chief's young daughter, Poca- 
hontas, and casting her arms about my neck declared that 
they should not hurt me. As I lay there helpless, with 
the Indian girl's head bent over mine and her supple brown 
fingers clasping me, I had no thought of rescue. I knew 
little, as you will see, of their customs. 

" I said to myself, ' They will drag her away, or perhaps 
kill her too.' Your Highness may think how my heart 
leaped when I felt them loosen the cords and was assured 
that I was free." 

" How old was the lady, my gallant captain ? " questioned 
Henry, remembering the man's former adventures and fore- 
seeing a possible romance. Smith's eyes twinkled. 

"About eleven, your Highness," he answered, "and a 
fine strapping lass for her age." 

Henry smiled. " What happened next .-' " he asked some- 
what hastily. 

Captain Smith chuckled as he twisted his heavy mous- 
tache into a fine upward curve. 

"That is the most laughable of all," said he, pleased 
with his listener's hearty good-fellowship. " The Powhatan 
and his men painted their faces in most hideous devices, 
and after howling dismally, at intervals, for two long days, 
came to me and embraced me, telling me that now I was 
the chief's adopted son, 'and that I might return to James- 
town, if I would but send to him, as a mark of my esteem, 
a couple of cannon and a grindstone." 

"And did you see Pocahontas again .-*" asked Henry, 
stumbling a little over the uncouth name. 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 33 

"Ay, that we did, right frequently. The lass has a 
brave heart, as you shall hear. It was some months after 
this that she heard of a treacherous attack to be made 
upon us by the Indians, led by that honorable old gentle- 
man, her father. Your Highness, she came alone at night, 
in a storm, to warn us of our danger ! " 

Henry's quick imagination reviewed the perils of such a 
journey and he nodded approvingly. 

" And this was the chief whom you crowned .? " he asked 
incredulously. 

" The very same, your Highness ; and would that you 
had been there to see. The London Company thought it 
a wondrous fine thing to have the coronation, as your 
Highness has been told, so Newport and I performed the 
ceremony as in duty bound ; but could you have seen the 
ridiculous creature in his scarlet robe and unsteady crown 
you must have died of laughing." Captain Smith was 
shaking with mirth at the recollection, and some irrever- 
ence in his manner brought Henry to a sense of his own 
dignity. 

" I thank you. Captain Smith, for the entertainment you 
have given me," he said graciously. " I envy you your fine, 
free life, your voyages, your work, and your glory. I am 
like a barnyard fowl longing for the wild life of the wil- 
derness." 

"It is all well enough for a youth like yourself," said 
Captain Smith, with something like a sigh, " and right 
glad were I to travel in company with one whose tastes are 
like my own. But when a man is old, my lad, he likes a 
snug harbor, and old friends, and quiet ways. We are not 
wholly to be envied, we adventurers." 



34 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i607- 

"I shall never be an old man," said Henry. "Some- 
thing tells me I shall not be here long, and I would not 
have it otherwise. Yet, if I am ever king or no, I shall 
remember with pleasure this hour by the river and your 
share in it. To-night I go to London, else I should beg 
you to return. And so good morrow to you, Captain John 
Smith." 

Captain Smith bowed low, his hand upon his heart, — an 
act of courtesy somewhat unusual with him. 

"What a pity that he is to be a mere king!" was his 
thought as the prince turned and left him. 



THE WORD OF GOD TO LEYDEN CAME 
Jeremiah Eames Rankin 

Biographical Note. Jeremiah Eames Rankin was born in New 
Hampshire in 1828. He became the president of Howard University, 
Washington, in 1889. Dr. Rankin has published several volumes of 
prose, as well as several of verse. 

Historical Note. The Separatists, as the Pilgrims were first called, 
were so persecuted in England that many of them went to Holland 
under the leadership of their pastor, John Robinson. Here they set- 
tled, hoping to found a new home for themselves and their families ; 
but everything was strange in the Dutch city and they were far from 
contented. They could not bear to think that their children would 
forget the English language, and the dear old English habits and 
ways of living ; so they thought hopefully of the New World, where 
they might keep their English customs and find freedom in matters of 
religion and of government. 

The word of God to Leyden came, 

Dutch town by Zuyder Zee ; 
Rise up, my children of no name, 

My kings and priests to be. 



]675] THE NEW HOMES 35 

There is an empire in the West, 

Which I will soon unfold ; 
A thousand harvests in her breast, 

Rocks ribbed with iron and gold. 

Rise up, my children, time is ripe ! 

Old things are passed away. 
Bishops and kings from earth I wipe : 

Too long they 've had their day. 
A little ship have I prepared 

To bear you o'er the seas ; 
And in your souls my will declared 

Shall grow by slow degrees. 

Beneath my throne the martyrs cry : 

I hear their voice. How long? 
It mingles with their praises high, 

And with their victor song. 
The thing they longed and waited for. 

But died without the sight ; 
So, this shall be ! I wrong abhor. 

The world I '11 now set right. 

Leave, then, the hammer and the loom, 

You 've other work to do ; 
For Freedom's commonwealth there's room, 

And you shall build it too. 
I 'm tired of bishops and their pride, 

I 'm tired of kings as well ; 
Henceforth I take the people's side, 

And with the people dwell. 



36 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i6ot- 

Tear off the mitre from the priest, 

And from the king, his crown ; 
Let all my captives be released ; 

Lift up, whom men cast down. 
Their pastors let the people choose. 

And choose their rulers too ; 
Whom they select, I '11 not refuse, 

But bless the work they do. 

The Pilgrims rose, at this, God's word. 

And sailed the wintry seas : 
With their own flesh nor blood conferred. 

Nor thought of wealth or ease. 
They left the towers of Leyden town. 

They left the Zuyder Zee ; 
And where they cast their anchor down, 

Rose Freedom's realm to be. 



THE PILGRIM FATHERS 
John Pierpont 

Biographical Note. John Pierpont was born in Connecticut in 
1785. He died in 1866. For twenty-six years he was pastor of a 
Boston church. At the age of seventy-six he volunteered as chaplain 
in the Civil War ; he was afterwards transferred to the Treasury 
Department. 

Historical Note. Plymouth, Massachusetts, lies upon a beautiful 
hillside which slopes down to fair meadows and yellow sands, and 
to the harbor which stretches out its arms with kindly invitation. 
Here the Pilgrims built their first log houses, here half their number 
perished during the first winter, and here the brave remnant displayed 
their endurance and courage and all-sustaining faith. 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 37 

The Pilgrim Fathers, — where are they ? 

The waves that brought them o'er 
Still roll in the bay, and throw their spray 

As they break along the shore ; 
Still roll in the bay, as they rolled that day 

When the Mayflower' moored below, 
When the sea around was black with storms, 

And white the shore with snow. 

The mists that wrapped the Pilgrim's sleep 

Still brood upon the tide ; 
And his rocks yet keep their watch by the deep 

To stay its waves of pride. 
But the snow-white sail that he gave to the gale, 

When the heavens looked dark, is gone, — 
As an angel's wing through an opening cloud 

Is seen, and then withdrawn. 

The pilgrim exile, — sainted name ! 

The hill whose icy brow 
Rejoiced, when he came, in the morning's flame, 

In the morning's flame burns now. 
And the moon's cold light, as it lay that night 

On the hillside and the sea, 
Still lies where he laid his houseless head, — 

But the Pilgrim ! where is he ? 

The Pilgrim Fathers are at rest : 

When summer 's throned on high, 
And the world's warm breast is in verdure drest. 

Go, stand on the hill where they lie. 



38 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i607- 

The earliest ray of the golden day 

On that hallowed spot is cast ; 
And the evening sun, as he leaves the world, 

Looks kindly on that spot last. 

The Pilgrim spirit has not fled : 

It walks in noon's broad light ; 
And it watches the bed of the glorious dead, 

With the holy stars by night. 
It watches the bed of the brave who have bled, 

And still guard this ice-bound shore, 
Till the waves of the bay where the Mayflower lay 

Shall foam and freeze no more. 

THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS 
Felicia Browne Hemans 

Biographical Note. Felicia Browne Hemans was born in England 
in 1794. She became known as a writer of verse which was marked 
by unusual taste and sweetness. It is said that when she was told of 
the sandy seashore near Plymouth, she was greatly troubled because 
in this poem she had written "rock-bound coast." Mrs. Hemans died 
in Dublin, Ireland, in 1835. 

Historical Note. After the long voyage of sixty-three days across 
the Atlantic, the Mavfitnver dropped anchor in what is now Province- 
town Harbor, at the extreme end of Cape Cod. An exploring party 
was sent out to find a good place for settlement, and the site of Plym- 
outh was decided upon. The Sunday previous to their landing these 
Pilgrims spent upon an island now known as Clark's Island. Here 
they offered prayers of thanksgiving and sang hymns of praise to God. 

The breaking waves dashed high 
On a stern and rock-bound coast. 

And the woods against a stormy sky 
Their giant branches tossed ; 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 

And the heavy night hung dark 

The hills and waters o'er, 
When a band of exiles moored their bark 

On the wild New England shore. 

Not as the conqueror comes, 

They, the true-hearted, came ; 
Not with the roll of the stirring drums, 

And the trumpet that sings of fame ; 

Not as the flying come. 

In silence and in fear ; — 
They shook the depths of the desert gloom 

With their hymns of lofty cheer. 

Amidst the storm they sang. 

And the stars heard and the sea ; 

And the sounding aisles of the dim woods ran; 
To the anthem of the free ! 

The ocean eagle soared 

From his nest by the white wave's foam ; 
And the rocking pines of the forest roared 

This was their welcome home ! 

There were men with hoary hair 

Amidst that pilgrim band ; — 
Why had they come to wither there, 

Away from their childhood's land .? 

There was woman's fearless eye, 

Lit by her deep love's truth ; 
There was manhood's brow serenely high. 

And the fiery heart of youth. 



39 



40 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [I607- 

What sought they thus afar ? — 

Bright jewels of the mine ? 
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war ? — 

They sought a faith's pure shrine ! 

Ay, call it holy ground. 

The soil where first they trod. 
They have left unstained what there they found — 

Freedom to worship God. 

MILES STANDISH 
Henry W. Longfellow 

Historical Note. Captain Miles Standish, a man who had won 
honor in European wars, had joined the Pilgrim band at Leyden, not 
as a member of their religious communion but as one who wished to 
help found a colony in the far-away English possessions of which he 
had already heard much. 

When the long, perilous voyage was over and Plymouth Harbor 
was reached, the leaders chose Standish for their " commander." 
From the very outset, therefore, this brave Captain Standish stood at 
the head of military affairs in the struggling little colony, proving 
himself of the greatest po.ssible assistance to his friends in their rela- 
tions with the Indians and in the work of forming the " Plantation" 
itself. 

Suddenly breaking the silence, the diligent scribe inter- 
rupting, 

Spake, in the pride of his heart, Miles Standish the Captain 
of Plymouth. 

" Look at these arms," he said, " the warlike weapons that 
hang here 

Burnished and bright and clean, as if for parade or in- 
spection ! 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 41 

This is the sword of Damascus I fought with in Flanders ; 

this breastplate, 
Well I remember the day ! once saved my life in a skirmish ; 
Here in front you can see the very dint of the bullet 
Fired point-blank at my heart by a Spanish arcabucero. 
Had it not been of sheer steel, the forgotten bones of 

Miles Standish 
Would at this moment be mold, in their grave in the 

Flemish morasses." 
Thereupon answered John Alden, but looked not up from 

his writing : 
" Truly the breath of the Lord hath slackened the speed 

of, the bullet ; 
He in his mercy preserved you, to be our shield and our 

weapon ! " 
Still the Captain continued, unheeding the words of the 

stripling : 
"See, how bright they are burnished, as if in an arsenal 

hanging ; 
That is because I have done it myself, and not left it to 

others. 
Serve yourself, would you be well served, is an excellent 

adage ; 
So I take care of my arms, as you of your pens and your 

inkhorn. 
Then, too, there are my soldiers, my great, invincible army, 
Twelve men, all equipped, having each his rest and his 

matchlock, 
Eighteen shillings a month, together with diet and pil- 

And, like Caesar, I know the name of each of my soldiers ! " 



42 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1607- 

This he said with a smile, that danced in his eyes, as the 

sunbeams 
Dance on the waves of the sea, and vanish again in a 

moment. 
Alden laughed as he wrote, and still the Captain con- 
tinued : 
" Look ! you can see from this window my brazen howitzer 

planted 
High on the roof of the church, a preacher who speaks to 

the purpose. 
Steady, straightforward, and strong, with irresistible logic, 
Orthodox, flashing conviction right into the hearts of the 

heathen. 
Now we are ready, I think, for any assault of the Indians ; 
Let them come, if they like, and the sooner they try it the 

better, — 
Let them come, if they like, be it sagamore, sachem, or 

powwow, 
Aspinet, Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, or Tokamahamon ! " 

From The Courtship of Miles Standish 

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING 

On the twenty-first day of November, in the year 1620, 
the Mayflozvcr, with its company of Pilgrims, came to 
anchor off Cape Cod. She had had a stormy voyage of 
more than nine weeks, and now, separated by the wide 
ocean from all that they held most dear, the Pilgrims 
looked out upon a dreary, barren wilderness. So uninviting 
was this sandy strip of shore that small exploring parties 
set out to find a more attractive landing place. 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 43 

At length, on the 21st of December, a company of men 
under the leadership of Captain Miles Standish reached the 
harbor of Plymouth and landed on the spot destined to be 
the site of the first permanent New England colony. 

A few days later the Mayfloiue7' herself arrived at the 
place chosen for the new home, and the task of building 
began at once. The houses were roughly made of logs 
and were protected from the weather by a thatching of 
frozen sod. As the work progressed the women and chil- 
dren came ashore, a few pieces of furniture were set up in 
the new cabins, and housekeeping began. 

Hardly was the work well under way, however, when sick- 
ness attacked the colony and carried off nearly half of their 
number. At one time during that hard winter there were 
only seven who were strong enough to care for the living 
and to bury the dead. The sick were crowded together in 
a cold, comfortless hospital, and the dead were buried at 
night lest the Indians should know how few remained. 

In the spring, however, the desolate little colony took 
new courage. Although each member mourned the loss of 
some near and dear one, they all went bravely on with the 
work they had pledged themselves to do. They calmly 
watched the Mayflower as it sailed out of the harbor one 
sunny morning in April, when the glad singing of the 
birds must have brought to mind their far-away homes. 
The captain had offered them a free passage to England, 
but not one of them accepted the offer. They felt that 
their duty called them to make good the promise of those 
first sad months. 

The summer seemed to these uncomplaining souls a 
happy and prosperous one. At its close they began to 



44 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1607- 

gather their small harvests and to make ready for the long 
winter. And as they looked upon their little store of pro- 
visions they were conscious of so many special reasons for 
gratitude that the gov^ernor issued a proclamation appoint- 
ing a feast of thanksgiving. 

Gunners were sent into the woods for wild turkeys, 
housewives worked all day in their kitchens, and a mes- 
senger was sent to invite Massasoit, the chief of the 
friendly Indians, to the celebration. 

Early Thanksgiving morning the guests appeared on the 
outskirts of the settlement. They were in high glee at the 
notion of the coming feast. As they filed into the open 
square by the governor's house they were given a hearty 
welcome, and they stood reverently while the morning 
service of prayer and praise took place. 

Then came not only one but three days of fun and feast- 
ing. The usual work was put aside, the children romped 
together without reprimand, and the tiny army of twenty 
men went through its drill to the great enjoyment of the 
savages. But throughout these hours of pleasure-making 
the real purpose of the celebration was not forgotten. 
Each day was closed, as it was begun, with a religious 
service. 

It was Indian summer time. The air was soft and warm ; a 
lovely haze hung over the sea ; the woods were still tinged 
with the late autumn coloring. There was the hum of many 
voices and the music of merry laughter as the Pilgrims and 
the Indians partook of the feast on the third day. . 

This was the state dinner, and a very ample one it was to 
those who had already felt the pinch of hunger more than 
once. There was roast turkey stuffed with beechnuts ; 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 45 

there were delicious venison pies, oysters brought by the 
Indians, great bowls of clam chowder, broiled fish, tooth- 
some cakes, wild grapes, nuts, and plums. Tradition says 
that the savage guests contributed popped corn as well as 
oysters to the dinner, and that the children greatly enjoyed 
the new dish. 

To-day we may see the meaning of Elder Brewster's 
prophecy : Blessed will it be for us, blessed for this land, 
for this vast continent ! Nay, from generation to generation 
will the blessing descend. Generations to come shall look 
back to this hour and these scenes of agonizing trial, this 
day of small things, and say, — "Here was our beginning as 
a people. These were our fathers. Through their trials we 
inherit our blessings. Their faith is our faith ; their hope 
our hope ; their God our God." c / / // 

THE CHALLENGE 

Henry W. Longfellow 

Historical Note. The rattlesnake-skin cliallenge occurred in Jan- 
uary, 1622, when Canonicus thus sent his defiance to the white 
settlers. The governor returned the skins stuffed with bullets. 

Meanwhile the choleric Captain strode wrathful away to 
the council, 
Found it already assembled, impatiently waiting his coming ; 
Men in the middle of life, austere and grave in deportment. 
Only one of them old, the hill that was nearest to heaven, 
Covered with snow, but erect, the excellent Elder of Plym- 
outh. 
God had sifted three kingdoms to find the wheat for this 
planting, 



46 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i607- 

Then had sifted the wheat, as the living seed of a nation ; 

So say the chronicles old, and such is the faith of the 
people ! 

Near them was standing an Indian, in attitude stern and 
defiant, 

Naked down to the waist, and grim and ferocious in aspect ; 

While on the table before them was lying unopened a Bible, 

Ponderous, bound in leather, brass-studded, printed in Hol- 
land, 

And beside it outstretched the skin of a rattlesnake glit- 
tered, 

Filled, like a quiver, with arrows; a signal and challenge of 
warfare. 

Brought by the Indian, and speaking with arrowy tongues 
of defiance. 

This Miles Standish beheld, as he entered, and heard them 
debating 

What were an answer befitting the hostile message and 
menace, 

Talking of this and of that, contriving, suggesting, objecting ; 

One voice only for peace, and that the voice of the Elder, 

Judging it wise and well that some at least were converted, 

Rather than any were slain, for this was but Christian 
behavior ! 

Then out spake Miles Standish, the stalwart Captain of 
Plymouth, 

Muttering deep in his throat, for his voice was husky with 
anger, 

*' What ! do you mean to make war with milk and the water 
of roses ? 

Is it to shoot red squirrels you have your howitzer planted 




The Challenge 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 47 

There on the roof of the church, or is it to shoot red devils ? 
Truly the only tongue that is understood by a savage 
Must be the tongue of fire that speaks from the mouth of 

the cannon ! " 
Thereupon answered and said the excellent Elder of 

Plymouth, 
Somewhat amazed and alarmed at this irreverent language : 
" Not so thought Saint Paul, nor yet the other Apostles ; 
Not from the cannon's mouth were the tongues of fire they 

spake with ! " 
But unheeded fell this mild rebuke on the Captain, 
Who had advanced to the table, and thus continued dis- 
coursing : 
" Leave this matter to me, for to me by right it pertaineth. 
War is a terrible trade ; but in the cause that is righteous, 
Sweet is the smell of powder ; and thus I answer the 
challenge ! " 

Then from the rattlesnake's skin, with a sudden, con- 
temptuous gesture, 
Jerking the Indian arrows, he filled it with powder and 

bullets 
Full to the very jaws, and handed it back to the savage, 
Saying, in thundering tones : " Here, take it ! this is your 

answer ! " 
Silently out of the room then glided the glistening savage, 
Bearing the serpent's skin, and seeming himself like a 

serpent. 
Winding his sinuous way in the dark to the depths of the 

forest. 

From The Courtship of Miles Standish 



48 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1607- 

HIAWATHA 

Henry W. Longfellow 

Historical Note. The more intelligent Indians realized that the 
white man had come to stay, and that he had brought a stronger gov- 
ernment and a better way of living. As the years went on many of 
the sachems and princes of the tribes issued messages to their fol- 
lowers to make peace with the paleface and to accept his friendship. 

From his wanderings far to eastward, 
From the regions of the morning, 
From the shining land of Wabun, 
Homeward now returned lagoo. 
The great traveler, the great boaster, 
Full of new and strange adventures. 
Marvels many and many wonders. 

And the people of the village 
Listened to him as he told them 
Of his marvelous adventures, 
Laughing answered him in this wise : 
" Ugh ! it is indeed lagoo ! 
No one else beholds such wonders ! " 

He had seen, he said, a water 
Bigger than the Big-Sea- Water, 
Broader than the Gitche Gumee, 
Bitter so that none could drink it ! 
At each other looked the warriors. 
Looked the women at each other. 
Smiled, and said, " It cannot be so ! 
Kaw ! " they said, " it cannot be so ! " 

O'er it, said he, o'er this water 
Came a great canoe with pinions, 
A canoe with wings came flying. 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 49 

Bigger than a grove of pine trees, 

Taller than the tallest tree tops ! 

And the old men and the women 

Looked and tittered at each other ; 

" Kaw ! " they said, " we don't believe it ! " 

From its mouth, he said, to greet him, 
Came Waywassimo, the lightning, 
Came the thunder, Annemeekee ! 
And the warriors and the women 
Laughed aloud at poor lagoo ; 
" Kaw ! " they said, " what tales you tell us ! " 

In it, said he, came a people. 
In the great canoe with pinions 
Came, he said, a hundred warriors ; 
Painted white were all their faces. 
And with hair their chins were covered ! 
And the warriors and the women 
Laughed and shouted in derision. 
Like the ravens on the tree tops. 
Like the crows upon the hemlocks. 
" Kaw ! " they said, " what lies you tell us ! 
Do not think that we believe them ! " 

Only Hiawatha laughed not. 
But he gravely spake and answered 
To their jeering and their jesting : 
" True is all lagoo tells us ; 
I have seen it in a vision, 
Seen the great canoe with pinions, 
Seen the people with white faces. 
Seen the coming of this bearded 
People of the wooden vessel 
From the regions of the morning, 



50 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1607- 

From the shining land of Wabun. 

" Let us welcome, then, the strangers, 
Hail them as our friends and brothers, 
And the heart's right hand of friendship 
Give them when they come to see us. 
Gitche Manito, the Mighty, 
Said this to me in my vision. 

" I beheld, too, in that vision 
All the secrets of the future, 
Of the distant days that shall be. 
I beheld the westward marches 
Of the unknown, crowded nations. 
All the land was full of people, 
Restless, struggling, toiling, striving. 
Speaking many tongues, yet feeling 
But one heart -beat in their bosoms. 
In the woodlands rang their axes, 
Smoked their towns in all the valleys, 
Over all the lakes and rivers 
Rushed their great canoes of thunder. 

" Then a darker, drearier vision 
Passed before me, vague and cloud-like : 
I beheld our nation scattered. 
All forgetful of my counsels. 
Weakened, warring with each other ; 
Saw the remnants of our people 
Sweeping westward, wild and woeful. 
Like the cloud-rack of a tempest. 
Like the withered leaves of Autumn ! " 

From The Song of Hiawatha 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 5 1 

THE CAPTIVE 

Mary Rowlandson 

Historical Note. Mrs. Mary Rowlandson was, with several others 
in the town of Lancaster, Massachusetts, taken prisoner by the Indians 
in February, 1675. This selection is taken from her own account of 
her sufferings. 

Now the Indians gathered their forces to go against 
Northampton. Over night one went about yelHng and 
hooting to give notice of the design. Whereupon they 
went to boihng of groundnuts and parching corn (as many 
as had it) for their provision ; and in the morning away they 
went. During my abode in this place Phihp spake to me 
to make a shirt for his boy, which I did ; for which he 
gave me a shilhng. I offered the money to my mistress, but 
she bid me keep it, and with it I bought a piece of horse- 
flesh. Afterward he asked me to make a cap for his boy; for 
which he invited me to dinner. I went, and he gave me a 
pancake about as big as two fingers ; it was made of parched 
wheat, beaten and fried in bear's grease, but I thought 
I never tasted pleasanter meat in my life. There was a 
squaw who spake to me to make a shirt, for which she 
gave me a piece of beef. Another asked me to knit a pair 
of stockings, for which she gave me a quart of peas. I 
boiled my peas and beef together, and invited my master 
and mistress to dinner ; but the proud gossip, because I 
served them both in one dish, would eat nothing except 
one bit that he gave her upon the point of his knife. 
Hearing that my son was come to this place, I went to see 
him, and found him lying flat on the ground. I asked him 



52 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1607- 

how he could sleep so ? He answered me that he was not 
asleep, but at prayer ; and that he lay so, that they might 
not observe what he was doing. I pray God he may 
remember these things now that he is returned in safety. 
At this place (the sun now getting higher), what with the 
beams and heat of the sun and the smoke of the wigwams, I 
thought I should have been blinded. I could scarce discern 
one wigwam from another. There was one Mary Thurston 
of Medfield, who, seeing how it was with me, lent me a hat 
to wear ; but as soon as I was gone, the squaw that owned 
that Mary Thurston came running after me and got it 
away again. Here was a squaw who gave me a spoonful 
of meal. I put it in my pocket to keep it safe ; yet notwith- 
standing somebody stole it, but put five Indian corns in the 
room of it, which corns were the greatest provision I had 
in my travel for one day. 

The Indians, returning from Northampton, brought with 
them some horses and sheep, and other things which they 
had taken. I desired them that they would carry me to 
Albany upon one of those horses and sell me for powder, 
for so they had sometimes discoursed. I was utterly help- 
less of getting home on foot, the way that I came. I could 
hardly bear to think of the many weary steps I had taken 
to this place. 

PHILIP OF POKANOKET 

Washington Irving 

Historical Note. Philip, son of Massasoit, became the sachem of 
the Pokanoket or Wampanoag tribe of Indians about the year 1661. 
For forty years the old chief, his father, had kept peace with the 
English, and the settlers of Plymouth had grown into friendly rela- 
tions with the red men. But with the death of Massasoit and Philip's 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 53 

accession the spirit of friendliness died out. For fourteen years plots 
were made, — plots in which Philip was discovered conspiring against 
the white people. 

A man of great power and unconquerable determination, Philip 
meant to drive out the English once and for all. After the first fight, 
— -" the great Swamp Fight," — which occurred in December, 1675, 
when the New England colonists in a body completely destroyed the 
Indian fortifications, Philip realized his defeat. 

With a scanty band of followers, who still remained true 
to his desperate fortunes, the unhappy Philip wandered 
back to the vicinity of Mount Hope, the ancient dwelling 
of his fathers. Here he lurked about, "like a specter, among 
the scenes of former power and prosperity, now bereft of 
home, of family, and friend." There needs no better pic- 
ture of his destitute and piteous situation than that fur- 
nished by the homely pen of the chronicler, who is unwarily 
enlisting the feelings of the reader in favor of the hapless 
warrior whom he reviles. "Philip," he says, " like a sav- 
age wild beast, having been hunted by the English forces 
through the woods above a hundred miles backward and 
forward, at last was driven to his own den upon Mount 
Hope, where he retired with a few of his best friends into 
a swamp, which proved but a prison to keep him fast till the 
messengers of death came by divine permission to execute 
vengeance upon him." 

Even in this last refuge of desperation and despair a 
sullen grandeur gathers round his memory. We picture 
him to ourselves seated among his careworn followers, 
brooding in silence over his blasted fortunes, and acquiring 
a savage sublimity from the wildness and dreariness of his 
lurking-place. Defeated but not dismayed, crushed to the 
earth but not humiliated, he seemed to grow more haughty 



54 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [leor- 

beneath disaster and to experience a fierce satisfaction 
in draining the last dregs of bitterness. Little minds are 
tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise 
above it. The very idea of submission awakened the fury 
of Philip, and he smote to death one of his followers who 
proposed an expedient of peace. The brother of the victim 
made his escape, and in revenge betrayed the retreat of his 
chieftain. A body of white men and Indians were immedi- 
ately dispatched to the swamp where Philip lay crouched, 
glaring with fury and despair. Before he was aware of 
their approach they had begun to surround him. In a little 
while he saw five of his trustiest followers laid dead at his 
feet ; all resistance was vain ; he rushed forth from his 
covert and made a headlong attempt to escape, but was shot 
through the heart by a renegado Indian of his own nation. 
Such is the scanty story of the brave but unfortunate 
King Philip, — persecuted while living, slandered and dis- 
honored when dead. If, however, we consider even the 
prejudiced anecdotes furnished us by his enemies, we may 
perceive in them traces of amiable and lofty character 
sufficient to awaken sympathy for his fate and respect for 
his memory. We find that amidst all the harassing cares 
and ferocious passions of constant warfare he was alive to 
the softer feelings of connubial love and paternal tender- 
ness, and to the generous sentiment of friendship. The 
captivity of his " beloved wife and only son " is mentioned 
with exultation as causing him poignant misery ; the death 
of any near friend is triumphantly recorded as a new blow 
on his sensibilities ; but the treachery and desertion of many 
of his followers, in whose affections he had confided, is said 
to have desolated his heart and to have bereaved him of 



1675] THE NEW HOMES 55 

all further comfort. He was a patriot, attached to his 
native soil ; a prince, true to his subjects and indignant of 
their wrongs ; a soldier, daring in battle, firm in adversity, 
patient of fatigue, of hunger, of every variety of bodily suf- 
fering, and ready to perish in the cause he had espoused. 
Proud of heart and with an untamable love of natural 
liberty, he preferred to enjoy it among the beasts of the 
forests, or in the dismal and famished recesses of swamps 
and morasses, rather than bow his haughty spirit to sub- 
mission and live dependent and despised in the ease and 
luxury of the settlements. With heroic qualities and bold 
achievements that would have graced a civilized warrior, 
and have rendered him the theme of the poet and the his- 
torian, he lived a wanderer and a fugitive in his native land, 
and went down, like a lonely bark foundering amid darkness 
and tempest, without a pitying eye to weep his fall or a 
friendly hand to record his struggle. 

From The Sketch Book 

Selections from Prose and Poetry 

The Twenty-Second of December. — Bryant. 

The Indian. — Everett. 

Eliot's Oaiv. — Whittier. 

Endicott and the Red Cross. — Hawth"ORNE. 

The Maypole of Merry Mount. — Hawthorne. 

The Bridal of Pennacook. — Whittier. 

Ann Hutchinson. — Hawthorne. 

Tabby's Tablecloth. — Alcott. 

The Sketch Book. — Irving. 

Queen Elizabeth. — Green {Short History of the English People). 

Stories of the Old Dominion. — Cooke. 



56 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 

Books for Children 

Indian History for Young Folks. — Drake. 
Pilgrims and Puritans. — Tiffany. 
Old Times in the Colonies. — Coffin. 
Little Puritan's First Christmas. — Robinson. 
Young Puritans in Captivity. — Smith. 
Young and Old Puritans of Hatfield. — Smith. 
Colonial Children. — Hart. 
Grandfather's Chair. — Hawthorne. 
The Making of New England. — Drake. 

Teacher's List 

Westward Ho ! — Kingsley. 

Beginnings of New England. — Fiske. 

Old Virginia and her Neighbors. — Fiske. 

The Dutch and Quaker Colonies. — Fiske. 

Standish of Standish. — Austin. 

Betty Alden. — Austin. 

A Nameless Nobleman. — Austin. 

Knickerbocker's History of New York. — Irving. 

Home Life in the Colonies. — Earle. 

Child Life in Colonial Times. — Earle. 

King Noanett. — Stimson. 

To Have and to Hold. — Johnston. 

The Romance of Dollard. — Catherwood. 



CHAPTER III 

COLONIAL LIFE 

The Puritans — there is a charm in that word which will never be 
lost on a New England ear. So intense is our sense of affiliation 
with their nature that we speak of them universally as our " fathers." 

Whipple 

The country felt itself honored by those who were " Virginians 
born " ; and emigrants never again desired to live in England. 

Bancroft 

Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without 
liberty is slavery. — Penn 

The only treaty which was never sworn to and never broken. 

Voltaire 

New times demand new manners and new men; 

The world advances, and in time outgrows 

The laws that in our fathers' day were best. — Lowell 

Taxation without representation is tyranny. — Otis 

Liberty, property, and no stamps ! —-Boston Boys' Cry (1765) 

I am not a Virginian but an American. — Patrick Henry 

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all, — 
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall ! 

The Liberty Song (Boston Gazette') 

To be prepared for war is one of the best ways of preserving 
peace. — Washington 

57 



58 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i678- 

THE OPENING OF THE BEAVER FAIR 

Mary Hartwell Catherwood 

Biographical Note. Mary Hartwell Catherwood (i 847-1 903) was 
an American writer who made portions of our history as entertaining 
as fiction. 

Historical Note. In 1678 Robert Cavelier de La Salle returned 
from France to Canada to carry out his ambitious schemes of pene- 
trating the great western wilderness. With him came his friend 
Henri de Tonty, — the man with the copper hand. 

The annual beaver fair was usually held in midsummer, 
but this year the tribes of the upper lakes had not descended 
with their furs to Montreal until September. These pre- 
cious skins, taken out of the canoes, were stored within 
the lodges. 

Every male of the camp was already greasing, painting, 
and feathering himself for the grand council which always 
preceded a beaver fair. Hurons, Ottawas, Crees, Nipis- 
sings, Ojibwas, Pottawattomies, each jealous for his tribe, 
completed a process begun the night before, and put on 
what might be called his court dress. In some cases this 
was no dress at all, except a suit of tattooing, or a fine coat 
of ocher streaked with white clay or soot. The juice of 
berries heightened nature in their faces. But there were 
grand barbarians who laid out robes of beaver skin, ample, 
and marked inside with strange figures or porcupine-quill 
embroidery. The heads swarming in this vast and dusky 
dressing room were some of them shaven bare except the 
scalp lock, some bristling in a ridge across the top, while 
others carried the natural coarse growth tightly braided 
down one side, with the opposite half flowing loose. 



1758] COLONIAL LIFE 59 

The guns of the fort had fired a sakite to Indian guests 
on their arrival the evening before. But at sunrise repeated 
cannonading, a prolonged roll of drums, and rounds of 
musketry announced that the governor general's fleet was 
in sight. 

This governor general, with all his faults, had a large and 
manly way of meeting colonial dangers, and was always a 
prop under the fainting hearts of New France. 

His boats made that display upon the St. Lawrence 
which it was his poUcy and inclination to make before 
Indians. Officers in white and gold, and young nobles of 
France, powdered, and flashing in the colors of Louis' 
magnificent reign, crowded his own vessel, — young men 
who had ventured out to Quebec because it was the fash- 
ion at court to be skilled in colonial matters, and now fol- 
lowed Frontenac as far as Montreal to amuse themselves 
with the annual beaver fair. The flag of France, set with 
its lilylike symbol, waved over their heads its white reply to 
its twin signal on the fort. 

Frontenac stood at the boat's prow, his rich cloak 
thrown back, and his head bared to the morning river breath 
and the people's shouts. Being colonial king pleased this 
soldier, tired of European camps and the full blaze of roy- 
alty, where his poverty put him to the disadvantage of a 
singed moth. 

Merchants of Quebec followed him with boat loads of 
Indian supplies. Even Acadia had sent men to this voy- 
age ; but most conspicuous to the eyes of Montreal were 
two men standing at Frontenac's right hand, — a Norman 
and an Italian. Both were tall, the Italian being of deeper 
colors and more generous materials. His large features 



6o 



AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1678- 



were clothed in warm brown skin. Rings of black hair 
thick as a fleece were cut short above his military col- 
lar. His fearless, kindly eyes received impressions from 
every aspect of the New World. There dwelt in Henri 
de Tonty the power to make men love him at sight, — 
savages as well as Europeans. He wore the dress of 
a French lieutenant of infantry, and looked less than 
thirty years old, having entered the service of France in 
his early youth. 

The other man, Robert Cavelier, — called La Salle from 
an estate he had once owned in France, — was at that time in 
the prime of his power. He was returning from France, 
with the king's permission to work out all his gigantic 
enterprises, with funds for the purpose, and one of the most 

promising young military 
men in Europe as his 
lieutenant. 

La Salle had a spare 
face, with long oval 
cheeks, curving well in- 
ward beside the round of 
his sensitive, prominent 
chin. Gray and olive 
tones still further cooled 
the natural pallor of his 
skin and made ashen 
brown the hair which he 
wore flowing. 

The plainness of an explorer and the elegance of a man 
exact in all his habits distinguished La Salle's dress against 
that background of brilliant courtiers. 




La Salle 



1758] COLONIAL LIFE 6 1 

He moved ashore with Frontenac, who saluted benignly 
both the array of red allies and the inhabitants of this 
second town in the province. 

The sLibgovernor stepped out to escort the governor 
general to the fort, bells rang, cannon still boomed, and 
martial music pierced the heart with its thrill. 

From The Story of Tonty 

THE PINE-TREE SHILLINGS 
Nathaniel Hawthorne 

Biographical Note. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American author 
remarkable for his artistic genius and the beauty of his style. He 
was born July 4, 1804, and died May 19, 1864. 

This selection is taken from a work called The Whole History of 
Grandfatlier''s Chair. An old man is represented as owning an ancient 
chair, which had been brought to New England by the earliest set- 
tlers. His grandchildren ask him to relate the adventures of this 
chair, and in doing so he tells them stories of men famous in early 
New England history. 

Captain John Hull was the mint-master of Massachusetts, 
and coined all the money that was made there. This was 
a new line of business ; for in the earlier days of the colony 
the current coinage consisted of gold and silver money of 
England, Portugal, and Spain. These coins being scarce, 
the people were often forced to barter their commodities 
instead of selling them. 

For instance, if a man wanted to buy a coat, he perhaps ' 
exchanged a bearskin for it. If he wished for a barrel of 
molasses, he might purchase it with a pile of pine boards. 
Musket bullets were used instead of farthings. The Indians 
had a sort of money, called wampum, which was made of 
clam shells ; and this strange sort of specie was likewise 



62 



AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 



[1678- 



taken in payment of debts by the English settlers. Bank 
bills had never been heard of. There was not money 
enough of any kind, in many parts of the country, to pay 
the salaries of the ministers ; so that they sometimes had 
to take quintals of fish, bushels of corn, or cords of wood, 
instead of silver or gold. 

As the people grew more numerous and their trade one 
with another increased, the want of current money was 
still more sensibly felt. To supply the demand, the Gen- 
eral Court passed a law for establishing a coinage of shil- 
lings, sixpences, and threepences. Captain John Hull was 
appointed to manufacture this money, and was to have 
about one shilling out of every twenty to pay him for the 

trouble of making 
them. 

Hereupon all the 
old silver in the 
colony was handed 
over to Captain 
John Hull. The 
Pine-Tree Shilling of Massachusetts battered silver cans 

and tankards, I suppose, and silver buckles, and broken 
spoons, and silver buttons of worn-out coats, and silver hilts 
of swords that had figured at court, — all such curious old 
articles were doubtless thrown into the melting pot together. 
But by far the greater part of the silver consisted of bullion 
from the mines of South America, which the English buc- 
caneers — who were little better than pirates — had taken 
from the Spaniards and brought to Massachusetts. 

All this old and new silver being melted down and coined, 
the result was an immense amount of splendid shillings, 




1758] COLONIAL LIFE 63 

sixpences, and threepences. Each had the date, 1652, on 
the one side, and the figure of a pine tree on the other. 
Hence they were called pine-tree shillings. And for every 
twenty shillings that he coined, you will remember, 
Captain John Hull was entitled to put one shilling into 
his own pocket. 

The magistrates soon began to suspect that the mint- 
master would have the best of the bargain. They offered 
him a large sum of money if he would but give up that 
twentieth shilling which he was continually dropping into 
his own pocket. But Captain Hull declared himself per- 
fectly satisfied with the shilling. 

And well he might be ; for so diligently did he labor 
that, in a few years, his pockets, his money bags, and his 
strong box were overflowing with pine-tree shillings. This 
was probably the case when he came into possession of 
Grandfather's chair ; and as he had worked so hard at the 
mint, it was certainly proper that he should have a com- 
fortable chair to rest himself in. 

When the mint-master had grown very rich, a young 
man, Samuel Sewell by name, came a-courting to his only 
daughter. His daughter — whose name I do not know, but 
we will call her Betsey - — was a fine, hearty damsel, by no 
means so slender as some young ladies of our own days. 
On the contrary, having always fed heartily on pumpkin 
pies, doughnuts, Indian puddings, and other Puritan dain- 
ties, she was as round and plump as a pudding herself. 

With this round, rosy Miss Betsey did Samuel Sewell 
fall in love. As he was a young man of good character, 
industrious in his business, and a member of the church, 
the mint-master very readily gave his consent. " Yes, you 



64 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i678- 

may take her," said he, in his rough way ; "and you'll find 
her a heavy burden enough." 

On the wedding day we may suppose that honest John 
Hull dressed himself in a plum-colored coat, all the buttons 
of which were made of pine-tree shillings. The buttons of 
his waistcoat were sixpences, and the knees of his small- 
clothes were buttoned with silver threepences. Thus 
attired, he sat with great dignity in Grandfather's chair ; 
and, being a portly old gentleman, he completely filled it 
from elbow to elbow. On the opposite side of the room, 
between her bridemaids, sat Miss Betsey. She was blush- 
ing with all her might, and looked like a full-blown peony 
or a great red apple. 

There, too, was the bridegroom, dressed in a fine purple 
coat and gold-lace waistcoat, with as much other finery as 
the Puritan laws and customs would allow him to put on. 
His hair was cropped close to his head, because Governor 
Endicott had forbidden any man to wear it below the ears. 
But he was a very personable young man ; and so thought 
the bridemaids and Miss Betsey herself. 

The mint-master also was pleased with his new son-in- 
law, especially as he had courted Miss Betsey out of pure 
love, and had said nothing at all about her portion. So, 
when the marriage ceremony was over, Captain Hull whis- 
pered a word to two of his menservants, who immediately 
went out, and soon returned, lugging in a large pair of 
scales. They were such a pair as wholesale merchants use 
for weighing bulky commodities ; and quite a bulky com- 
modity was now to be weighed in them. 

" Daughter Betsey," said the mint-master, "get into one 
side of these scales." 



1758] COLONIAL LIFE 65 

Miss Betsey — or Mrs. Sewell, as we must now call her 
— did as she was bid, like a dutiful child, without any ques- 
tion of the why and wherefore. But what her father could 
mean, unless to make her husband pay for her by the 
pound (in which case she would have been a dear bargain), 
she had not the least idea. 

" And now," said honest John Hull to the servants, 
" bring that box hither." 

The box to which the mint-master pointed was a huge, 
square, iron-bound, oaken chest ; it was big enough, my 
children, for all four of you to play at hide and seek in. 
The servants tugged with might and main, but could not 
lift this enormous receptacle, and were finally obliged to 
drag it across the floor. 

Captain Hull then took a key from his girdle, unlocked 
the chest, and lifted its ponderous lid. Behold, it was full 
to the brim of bright pine-tree shillings, fresh from the 
mint ; and Samuel Sewell began to think that his father-in- 
law had got possession of all the money in the Massachu- 
setts treasury. But it was only the mint-master's honest 
share of the coinage. 

Then the servants, at Captain Hull's command, heaped 
double handfuls of shillings into one side of the scales, 
while Betsey remained in the other. Jingle, jingle, went 
the shillings, as handful after handful was thrown in, till, 
plump and ponderous as she was, they fairly weighed the 
young lady from the floor. 

"There, son Sewell!" cried the honest mint-master; 
" take these shillings for my daughter's portion. Use her 
kindly and thank Heaven for her. It is not every wife that 's 
worth her weight in silver." From Grandfather^ s Chair 



66 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [igts- 

THE SUNKEN TREASURE 
Nathaniel Hawthorne 

Picture to yourselves, my dear children, a handsome, old- 
fashioned room, with a large, open cupboard at one end in 
which is displayed a magnificent gold cup, with some other 
splendid articles of gold and silver plate. In another part 
of the room stands our beloved chair, newly polished, and 
adorned with a gorgeous cushion of crimson velvet tufted 
with gold. 

In the chair sits a man of strong and sturdy frame, 
whose face has been roughened by northern tempests and 
blackened by the burning sun of the West Indies. He 
wears an immense periwig flowing down over his shoulders. 
His coat has a wide embroidery of golden foliage, and his 
waistcoat, likewise, is all flowered over and bedizened with 
gold. His red, rough hands, which have done many a good 
day's work with the hammer and adze, are half-covered by 
the delicate lace ruffles at his wrists. On a table lies his 
silver-hilted sword, and in a corner of the room stands his 
gold-headed cane, made of a beautifully polished West 
India wood. 

Somewhat such an aspect as this did Sir William Phipps 
present when he sat in Grandfather's chair after the king 
had appointed him governor of Massachusetts. 

But Sir William Phipps had not always worn a gold- 
embroidered coat, nor always sat so much at his ease as he 
did in Grandfather's chair. He was a poor man's son, and 
was born in the province of Maine, where he used to tend 
sheep upon the hills in his boyhood and youth. Until he 
had grown to be a man he did not even know how to read 



1758] COLONIAL LIFE 6/ 

and write. Tired of tending sheep, he next apprenticed him- 
self to a ship carpenter, and spent about four years in hew- 
ing the crooked Hnibs of oak trees into knees for vessels. 

In 1673, when he was twenty-two years old, he came to 
Boston, and soon afterwards was married. He often told 
his wife that, some time or other, he should be very rich, 
and would build a "fair brick house" in the Green Lane 
of Boston. 

Several years passed away, and William Phipps had not 
yet gained the riches which he promised to himself. Dur- 
ing this time he had begun to follow the sea for a living. 
In the year 1684 he happened to hear of a Spanish ship 
which had been cast away near the Bahama Islands, and 
which was supposed to contain a great deal of gold and 
silver. Phipps went to the place in a small vessel, hoping 
that he should be able to recover some of the treasure from 
the wreck. He did not succeed, however, in fishing up 
gold and silver enough to pay the expenses of his voyage. 

But before he returned he was told of another Spanish 
ship, or galleon, which had been cast away near Porto de 
la Plata. She had now lain as much as fifty years beneath 
the waves. This old ship had been laden with immense 
wealth ; and, hitherto, nobody had thought of the possi- 
bility of recovering any part of it from the deep sea which 
was rolling and tossing it about. But though it was now 
an old story, and the most aged people had almost forgot- 
ten that such a vessel had been wrecked, William Phipps 
resolved that the sunken treasure should again be brought 
to light. 

He went to London and obtained admittance to King 
James, who had not yet been driven from his throne. He 



68 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i678- 

told the king of the vast wealth that was lying at the 
bottom of the sea. King James listened with attention, 
and thought this a fine opportunity to fill his treasury with 
Spanish gold. He appointed William Phipps to be captain 
of a vessel called the Rose Algier, carrying eighteen guns 
and ninety-five men. So now he was Captain Phipps 
of the English navy. 

Captain Phipps sailed from England in the Rose Algier, 
and cruised for nearly two years in the West Indies, 
endeavoring to find the wreck of the Spanish ship. But 
the sea is so wide and deep that it is no easy matter to 
discover the exact spot where a sunken vessel lies. The 
prospect of success seemed very small ; and most people 
would have thought that Captain Phipps was as far from 
having money enough to build a " fair brick house " as he 
was while he tended sheep. 

The seamen of the Rose Algier became discouraged, and 
gave up all hope of making their fortunes by discovering 
the Spanish wreck. They broke out in open mutiny ; but 
were finally mastered by Phipps and compelled to obey his 
orders. It would have been dangerous, however, to con- 
tinue much longer at sea with such a crew of mutinous 
sailors ; and, besides, the Rose Algier v^2iS leaky and unsea- 
worthy. So Captain Phipps judged it best to return to 
England. 

Before leaving the West Indies he met with a Spaniard, 
an old man, who remembered the wreck of the Spanish ship, 
and gave him directions how to find the very spot. It was 
on a reef of rocks, a few leagues from Porto de la Plata. 

On his arrival in England, therefore. Captain Phipps 
solicited the king to let him have another vessel and send 



1758] COLONIAL LIFE 69 

him back again to tlie West Indies. But King James 
refused to have anything more to do with the affair. Phipps 
might never have been able to renew the search if the 
Duke of Albemarle and some other noblemen had not lent 
their assistance. They fitted out a ship and gave the com- 
mand to Captain Phipps. He sailed from England and 
arrived safely at Porto de la Plata, where he took an adze 
and assisted his men to build a large boat. 

The boat was intended for the purpose of going closer to 
the reef of rocks than a large vessel could safely venture. 
When it was finished the captain sent several men in it to 
examine the spot where the Spanish ship was said to have 
been wrecked. They were accompanied by some Indians, 
who were skillful divers. 

The boat's crew proceeded to the reef of rocks and 
rowed round and round it a great many times. They gazed 
down into the water, which was so transparent that it 
seemed as if they could have seen the gold and silver at 
the bottom, had there been any of those precious metals 
there. Nothing, however, could they see ; nothing more 
valuable than a curious sea shrub, which was growing 
beneath the water, in a crevice of the reef of rocks. It 
flaunted to and fro with the swell and reflux of the waves, 
and looked as bright and beautiful as if its leaves were gold. 

"We won't go back empty-handed," cried an English 
sailor; and then he spoke to one of the Indian divers. 
"Dive down and bring me that pretty sea shrub there. 
That's the only treasure we shall find." 

Down plunged the diver, and soon rose dripping from 
the water, holding the sea shrub in his hand. But he had 
learned some news at the bottom of the sea. 



70 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i678- 

" There are some ship's guns," said he, the moment he 
had drawn breath, — "some great cannon, among the rocks, 
near where the shrub was growing." 

No sooner had he spoken than the English sailors knew 
that they had found the very spot where the Spanish 
galleon had been wrecked so many years before. The 
other Indian divers immediately plunged over the boat's 
side and swam headlong down, groping among the rocks 
and sunken cannon. In a few moments one of them rose 
above the water with a heavy lump of silver in his arms. 
The single lump was worth more than a thousand dollars. 
The sailors took it into the boat, and then rowed back as 
speedily as they could, being in haste to inform Captain 
Phipps of their good luck. 

But, confidently as the captain had hoped to find the 
Spanish wreck, yet, now that it was really found, the news 
seemed too good to be true. He could not believe it till 
the sailors showed him the lump of silver. 

"Thanks be to God ! " then cries Captain Phipps. "We 
shall every man of us make our fortunes ! " 

Hereupon the captain and all the crew set to work, with 
iron rakes and great hooks and lines, fishing for gold and 
silver at the bottom of the sea. Up came the treasure in 
abundance. Now they beheld a table of solid silver, once 
the property of an old Spanish grandee. Now they drew 
up a golden cup, fit for the king of Spain to drink his 
wine out of. Now their rakes or fishing lines were 
loaded with masses of silver bullion. There were also 
precious stones among the treasure, glittering and spar- 
kling so that it is a wonder how their radiance could have 
been concealed. 



1758] COLONIAL LIFE 71 

There is something sad and terrible in the idea of snatch- 
ing all this wealth from the devouring ocean, which had 
possessed it for such a length of years. It seems as if men 
had no right to make themselves rich with it. It ought to 
have been left with the skeletons of the ancient Spaniards, 
who had been drowned when the ship was wrecked, and 
whose bones were now scattered among the gold and silver. 

But Captain Phipps and his crew were troubled with no 
such thoughts as these. After a day or two they lighted 
on another part of the wreck, where they found a great 
many bags of silver dollars. But nobody could have guessed 
that these were money bags. By remaining so long in the 
salt water they had become covered over with a crust 
which had the appearance of stone, so that it was neces- 
sary to break them in pieces with hammers and axes. 
When this was done, a stream of silver dollars gushed out 
upon the deck of the vessel. 

The whole value of the recovered treasure — plate, bullion, 
precious stones, and all — was estimated at more than two 
millions of dollars. It was dangerous even to look at such 
a vast amount of wealth. A sea captain, who had assisted 
Phipps in the enterprise, utterly lost his reason at the sight 
of it. He died two years afterwards, still raving about the 
treasures that lie at the bottom of the sea. It would have 
been better for this man if he had left the skeletons of the 
shipwrecked Spaniards in quiet possession of their wealth. 

Captain Phipps and his men continued to fish up plate, 
bullion, and dollars, as plentifully as ever, till their provi- 
sions grew short. Then, as they could not feed upon gold 
and silver any more than old King Midas could, they found 
it necessary to go in search of better sustenance. Phipps 



72 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i678- 

resolved to return to England. He arrived there in 1687, 
and was received with great joy by the Duke of Albemarle 
and other English lords who had fitted out the vessel. 
Well they might rejoice ; for they took by far the greater 
part of the treasure to themselves. 

The captain's share, however, was enough to make him 
comfortable for the rest of his days. It also enabled him to 
fulfill his promise to his wife, by building a " fair brick 
house" in the Green Lane of Boston. The Duke of Albe- 
marle sent Mrs. Phipps a magnificent gold cup, worth at 
least five thousand dollars. Before Captain Phipps left Lon- 
don King James made him a knight ; so that, instead of 
the obscure ship carpenter who had formerly dwelt among 
them, the inhabitants of Boston welcomed him on his return 
as the rich and famous Sir William Phipps. 



THE ACADIANS 

Henry W. Longfellow 

Historical Note. During the years immediately following Braddock's 
defeat (1756-175S), about seven thousand French "neutrals" were 
driven out of Nova Scotia by order of the English government. 
The harshness of this act has probably been exaggerated, for recent 
investigation shows that great ca.re was taken to prevent the separa- 
tion of families or any unjust treatment of the exiles. 

So passed the morning away. And lo ! with a summons 

sonorous 
Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a 

drum beat. 
Thronged erelong was the church with men. Without, in 

the churchyard. 



1758] COLONIAL LIFE 73 

"Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and hung 

on the headstones 
Garlands of autumn leaves and evergreens fresh from the 

forest. 
Then came the guard from the ships, and marching proudly 

among them 
Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant 

clangor 
Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceiling and 

casement, — 
Echoed a moment only, and slowly the ponderous portal 
Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of the 

soldiers. 
Then uprose their commander, and spake from the steps of 

the altar, 
Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal com- 
mission. 
" You are convened this day," he said, " by his Majesty's 

orders. 
Clement and kind has he been ; but how you have answered 

his kindness. 
Let your own hearts reply ! To my natural make and my 

temper 
Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must be 

grievous. 
Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our 

monarch ; 
Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, and cattle of 

all kinds 
Forfeited be to the crown ; and that you yourselves from 

this province 



74 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1678- 

Be transported to other lands. God grant you may dwell 
there 

Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable people ! 

Prisoners now I declare you ; for such is his Majesty's 
pleasure ! " 

As, when the air is serene in the sultry solstice of summer, 

Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling of the 
hailstones 

Beats down the farmer's corn in the field, and shatters his 
windows. 

Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch from 
the house roofs. 

Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their inclosures ; 

So on the hearts of the people descended the words of the 
speaker. 

Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and then 
rose 

Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anger. 

And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed to the 
doorway. 

Vain was the hope of escape ; and cries and fierce impre- 
cations 

Rang through the house of prayer ; and high o'er the heads 
of the others 

Rose, with his arms uplifted, the figure of Basil the black- 
smith. 

As, on a stormy sea, a spar is tossed by the billows. 

Flushed was his face and distorted with passion ; and wildly 
he shouted, — 

" Down with the tyrants of England ! we never have sworn 
them allegiance ! 



1758] COLONIAL LIFE 75 

Death to these foreign soldiers, who seize on our homes 

and our harvests ! " 
More he fain would have said, but the merciless hand of a 

soldier 
Smote him upon the mouth, and dragged him down to the 

pavement. 

In the midst of the strife and tumult of angry contention, 
Lo ! the door of the chancel opened, and Father Felician 
Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the steps of the 

altar. 
Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed into 

silence 
All that clamorous throng ; and thus he spake to his 

people ; 
Deep were his tones and solemn ; in accents measured and 

mournful 
Spake he, as, after the tocsin's alarum, distinctly the clock 

strikes. 
" What is this that ye do, my children ? what madness has 

seized you .'' 
Forty years of my life have I labored among you, and 

taught you, 
Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one another ! 
Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and prayers and 

privations .-' 
Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love and for- 
giveness 



?" 



Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in the hearts of 
his people 



^6 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1678- 

Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded the passionate 

outbreak, 
While they repeated his prayer, and said, " O Father, for- 
give them ! " 

Meanwhile had spread in the village the tidings of ill, and 

on all sides 
Wandered, wailing, from house to house the women and 

children. 
Long at her father's door Evangeline stood, with her right 

hand 
Shielding her eyes from the level rays of the sun, that, 

descending. 
Lighted the village street with mysterious splendor, and 

roofed each 
Peasant's cottage with golden thatch, and emblazoned its 

windows. 
Long within had been spread the snow-white cloth on the 

table ; 
There stood the wheaten loaf, and the honey fragrant with 

wild-flowers ; 
There stood the tankard of ale, and the cheese fresh 

brought from the dairy, 
And, at the head of the board, the great arm-chair of the 

farmer. 
Thus did Evangeline wait at her father's door, as the sunset 
Threw the long shadows of trees o'er the broad ambrosial 

meadows. 
Ah ! on her spirit within a deeper shadow had fallen. 
And from the fields of her soul a fragrance celestial 

ascended, — 




Evangeline 



1758] COLONIAL LIFE yy 

Charity, meekness, love, and hope, and forgiveness, and 

patience ! 
Then, all-forgetful of self, she wandered into the village. 
Cheering with looks and words the mournful hearts of the 

women. 
As o'er the darkening fields with lingering steps they 

departed, 

Urged by their household cares, and the weary feet of 

their children. 

From Evanseline 



Selections from Prose and Poetry 

How the Women went from Dover. — Whittier. 

Cassandra Southwick. — Whittier. 

Giles Corey. — Wilkins. 

The Quaker of the Olden Times. — Whittier. 

Lady Wentworth. — Longfellow. 

Legends of the Province House. — Hawthorne. 

Sir William Phipps. ■ — Hawthorne. 

Sir William Pepperell. — Hawthorne. 

Evangeline. — Longfellow. 

The Witch of Wenham. — Whittier. 



Books for Children 

From Colony to Commonwealth. — Tiffany. 
William Penn. — Hodge. 
Autobiography of Franklin. — Franklin. 
Stories of Great Americans. — Eggleston. 
Stories of American Life and Adventure. — Eggleston. 
The Deerslayer. — Cooper. 
The Last of the Mohicans. — Cooper. 
The Pathfinder. — Cooper. 

A Book of New England Legends and Folklore in Prose and 
Poetry. — S. A. Drake. 



78 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 



Teacher's List 

New France and New England. — Fiske. 

Frontenac. — Parkman. 

Montcalm and Wolfe. — Parkman. 

The Refugees. — Doyle. 

The Conspiracy of Pontiac. — Parkman. 

The Story of Tonty. — Catherwood. 

The Beginners of a Nation. — Eggleston. 

The Transit of Civilization. — Eggleston. 

The Scarlet Letter. — Hawthorne. 

Agnes Surriage. — Bynner. 

The Adventures of Ann. — Wilkins. 

Doctor Vandyke. — Cooke. 

The Colonial Cavalier. — Goodwin. 

Customs and Fashions in Old New England. — Earle. 

The Sabbath in Puritan New England. — Earle. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE REVOLUTION 

If I were an American as I am an Englishman, while a foreign 
troop was landed in my country I never would lay down my arms, — 
never ! never ! never ! — Pitt 

The Americans will fight; England has lost her colonies for- 
ever. — Franklin 

Give me liberty or give me death. — Henry 

The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. 

Jekkerson 

Where Liberty dwells, there is my country. — Franklin 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, 

Their flag to April's breeze unfurled. 
Here once the embattled farmers stood. 

And fired the shot heard round the world. — Emerson 

So through the night rode Paul Revere ; 

And so through the night went his cry of alarm 

To every Middlesex village and farm, — 

A cry of defiance and not of fear, 

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door. 

And a word that shall echo forevermore. — Longfellow 

In their ragged regimentals 
Stood the old Continentals 

Yielding not. — McMaster 

We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang sepa- 
rately. — Franklin 

79 



8o AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i770- 

We hold these truths to be self-evident : That all men are 
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness. . . . And for the support of this declaration, with a firm 
reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge 
to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. — Decla- 
ration OF Independence 

Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was 
debated in America, and a greater perhaps never was nor will be 
decided among men. — John Adams 

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. 

Nathan Hale 



THE BOSTON MASSACRE 

Nathaniel Hawthorne 

Historical Note. The English government, annoyed by the defiant 
spirit of the colonists, sent troops to Boston and quartered them in 
the city. As might have been expected, an encounter took place 
between the soldiers and the citizens. This, though not important 
in itself, showed the dangers of military rule and of disregarding the 
will of the people. 

It was now the 3d of March, 1770. The sunset music 
of the British regiments was heard, as usual, throughout 
the town. The shrill fife and rattling drum awoke the 
echoes in King Street, while the last ray of sunshine was 
lingering on the cupola of the townhouse. 

And now all the sentinels were posted. One of them 
marched up and down before the customhouse, treading a 
short path through the snow and longing for the time 
when he would be dismissed to the warm fireside of the 
guardroom. 



1789] THE REVOLUTION 8 1 

In the course of the evening there were two or three 
slight commotions, which seemed to indicate that trouble was 
at hand. Small parties of young men stood at the corners 
of the streets or walked along the narrow pavements. 
Squads of soldiers, who were dismissed from duty, passed 
by them, shoulder to shoulder, with the regular step which 
they had learned at the drill. Whenever these encounters 
took place it appeared to be the object of the young men 
to treat the soldiers with as much incivility as possible. 

" Turn out, you lobster -backs ! " one would say. " Crowd 
them off the sidewalks ! " another would cry. ** A redcoat 
has no right in Boston streets." 

" O you rebel rascals ! " perhaps the soldiers would reply, 
glaring fiercely at the young men. " Some day or other 
we'll make our way through Boston streets at the point 
of the bayonet ! " 

Once or twice such disputes as these brought on a scuffle, 
which passed off, however, without attracting much notice. 
About eight o'clock, for some unknown cause, an alarm 
bell rang loudly and hurriedly. 

At the sound many people ran out of their houses, sup- 
posing it to be an alarm of fire. But there were no flames 
to be seen, nor was there any smell of smoke in the clear, 
frosty air ; so that most of the townsmen went back to their 
own firesides. Others, who were younger and less prudent, 
remained in the streets. 

Later in the evening, not far from nine o'clock, several 
young men passed down King Street toward the custom- 
house. When they drew near the sentinel, he halted on his 
post and took his musket from his shoulder, ready to pre- 
sent the bayonet at their breasts. 



82 



AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i770- 



"Who goes there?" he cried, in the gruff tones of a 
soldier's challenge. 

The young men, being Boston boys, felt as if they had 
a right to walk their own streets without being accounta- 
ble to a British redcoat. They made some rude answer 
to the sentinel. There was a dispute, or perhaps a scuffle. 




Other soldiers heard the noise and ran hastily from the 
barracks to assist their comrade. 

At the same time many of the townspeople rushed into 
King Street, by various avenues, and gathered in a crowd 
about the customhouse. It seemed wonderful how such a 
multitude had started up all of a sudden. 

The wrongs and insults which the people had been 
suffering for many months now kindled them into a rage. 
They threw snowballs and lumps of ice at the soldiers. 
As the tumult grew louder it reached the ears of Captain 



1789] THE REVOLUTION 83 

Preston, the officer of the day. He immediately ordered 
eight soldiers of the main guard to take their muskets and 
follow him. They marched across the street, forcing their 
way roughly through the crowd and pricking the towns- 
people with their bayonets. 

A gentleman (it was Henry Knox, afterwards general 
of the American artillery) caught Captain Preston's arm. 

"For Heaven's sake, sir," exclaimed he, "take heed what 
you do, or there will be bloodshed ! " 

"Stand aside!" answered Captain Preston haughtily. 
" Do not interfere, sir. Leave me to manage the affair." 

Arriving at the sentinel's post. Captain Preston drew up 
his men in a semicircle, with their faces to the crowd. 
When the people saw the officer, and beheld the threaten- 
ing attitude with which the soldiers fronted them, their 
rage became almost uncontrollable. 

" Fire, you lobster-backs ! " bellowed some. 

" You dare not fire, you cowardly redcoats ! " cried others. 

" Rush upon them ! " shouted many voices. " Drive the 
rascals to their barracks ! Down with them ! Down with 
them ! Let them fire, if they dare ! " 

Amid the uproar the soldiers stood glaring at the people 
with the fierceness of men whose trade was to shed 
blood. 

Oh, what a crisis had now arrived ! LTp to this very mo- 
ment the angry feelings between England and America 
might have been pacified. England had but to stretch out 
the hand of reconciliation and acknowledge that she had 
hitherto mistaken her rights, but would do so no more. 
Then the ancient bonds of brotherhood would again have 
been knit together as firmly as in old times. 



84 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i770- 

But should the king's soldiers shed one drop of Ameri- 
can blood, then it was a quarrel to the death. Never, never 
would America rest satisfied until she had torn down the 
royal authority and trampled it in the dust. 

" Fire, if you dare, villains ! " hoarsely shouted the peo- 
ple, while the muzzles of the muskets were turned upon 
them. " You dare not fire ! " 

They appeared ready to rush upon the leveled bayonets. 
Captain Preston waved his sword and uttered a command 
which could not be distinctly heard amid the uproar of 
shouts that issued from a hundred throats. But his sol- 
diers deemed that he had spoken the fatal mandate, 
"Fire! " The flash of their muskets lighted up the street, 
and the report rang loudly between the edifices. 

A gush of smoke overspread the scene. It rose heavily, 
as if it were loath to reveal the dreadful spectacle beneath 
it. Eleven of the sons of New England lay stretched upon 
the street. Some, sorely wounded, were struggling to rise 
again. Others stirred not nor groaned, for they were past 
all pain. Blood was streaming upon the snow; and that 
purple stain in the midst of King Street, though it melted 
away in the next day's sun, was never forgotten nor forgiven 
by the people. 

THE BOSTON TEA PARTY 

Washingto]^ Irving 

Historical Note. England had been involved in long and costly 
wars and she had taxed the colonies to help pay the expenses of these 
campaigns. There were taxes on glass and pasteboard, painters' 
colors, and tea. The famous Stamp Act had been repealed, but these 
later taxes brought up the same discussions and objections. 



1789] THE REVOLUTION 85 

Owing to the constant protests, all duties except the tax on tea 
were at length done away with by an act of Parliament. The duty 
on tea was continued, simply to show that England had the right to 
tax the colonist, — the principle which the whole struggle was about. 
The passing of this act occurred on the very day of the Boston 
Massacre. 

The colonists, as a matter of convenience, resumed the 
consumption of those articles on which the duties had been 
repealed, but continued, on principle, the rigorous disuse of 
tea, excepting such as had been smuggled in. New Eng- 
land was particularly earnest in the matter ; many of the 
inhabitant.s, in the spirit of their Puritan progenitors, made a 
covenant to drink no more of the forbidden beverage until 
the duty on tea shguld be removed. 

This covenant operated disastrously against the interests 
of the East India Company, and produced an immense 
accumulation of the proscribed article in their warehouses. 
To remedy this. Lord North brought in a bill (1773) by 
which the Company were allowed to export their teas from 
England to any part whatever, without paying export duty. 
This, by enabling them to offer their teas at a low price in 
the colonies, would, he supposed, tempt the Americans to 
purchase large quantities, thus relieving the Company, and 
at the same time benefiting the revenue by the impost duty. 
Confiding in the wisdom of this policy, the Company dis- 
gorged their warehouses, freighted several ships with tea, 
and sent them to various parts of the colonies. This 
brought matters to a crisis. One sentiment, one determi- 
nation pervaded the whole continent. Taxation was to re- 
ceive its definitive blow. Whoever submitted to it was an 
enemy to his country. From New York and Philadelphia 
the ships were sent back, with their cargoes, to London. 



86 



AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1770- 



In Charleston the tea was unloaded and stored away in 
cellars and other places, where it perished. At Boston 
the action was still more decisive. The ships anchored in 
the harbor. Some small parcels of tea were brought on 
shore, but the sale of them was prohibited. The captains 
of the ships, seeing the desperate state of the case, would 




have made sail back for England, but they could not obtain 
the consent of the consignees, a clearance at the custom- 
house, or a passport from the governor to clear the port. 
It was evident the tea was to be forced upon the people 
of Boston, and the principle of ta.xation established. 

To settle the matter completely, and prove that, on a 
point of principle, they were not to be trifled with, a number 



1789] THE REVOLUTION 8/ 

of the inhabitants, disguised as Indians, boarded the ships 

in the evening (December i6, 1773), broke open all the 

chests of tea, and emptied the contents into the sea. This 

was no rash and intemperate proceeding of a mob, but the 

well-considered, though resolute act, of sober, respectable 

citizens, men of reflection but determination. The whole 

was done calmly, and in perfect order, after which the actors 

in the scene dispersed without tumult and returned quietly 

to their homes. 

From John Fiske's Irving' s Life of Washington 

ALLEN'S CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 
George Bancroft 

Biographical Note. George Bancroft (i 800-1 891) was an eminent 
American historian and statesman. His History of the United States 
was the result of an immense amount of labor and research. 

Historical Note. At the opening of the Revolution it was hoped 
by the colonists that Canada would join in the American cause. 
The Provincial Congress felt that by driving the British army out of 
Canada they might aid in this movement. Moreover, they wished to 
seize the stores in possession of the British at Fort Ticonderoga, then 
under command of Delaplace. Ticonderoga controlled the water 
way between the Hudson valley and Lake Champlain. Ethan 
Allen and his "Green Mountain Boys" undertook this expedition. 
The fort was out of repair, and as the commander had but a hand- 
ful of men there was nothing to do but to surrender. Allen and 
his exulting patriotic band captured a large number of cannon, small 
arms, and ammunition. Thus the important gateway of Canada fell 
into the hands of the American army without a struggle. 

The men were at once drawn up in three ranks, and, as 
the first beams of morning broke upon the mountain peaks, 
Ethan Allen addressed them thus : " Friends and fellow- 
soldiers, we must this morning quit our pretensions to valor. 



88 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1770- 

or possess ourselves of this fortress ; and, inasmuch as it is 
a desperate attempt, I do not urge it on, contrary to will. 
You that will undertake it voluntarily, poise your firelock." 

At the word every firelock was poised. " Face to the 
right ! " cried Allen ; and, placing himself at the head of 
the center file, Arnold keeping emulously at his side, he 
marched to the gate. It was shut, but the wicket was open. 
The sentry snapped a fusee at him. The Americans rushed 
into the fort, darted upon the guards, and raising the Indian 
war whoop, such as had not been heard there since the 
days of Montcalm, formed on the parade in hollow square, 
to face each of the barracks. 

One of the sentries, after wounding an officer and being 
slightly wounded himself, cried out for quarter and showed 
the way to the apartment of the commanding officer. 
" Come forth instantly, or I will sacrifice the whole garri- 
son," cried Allen, as he reached the door. At this, Dela- 
place, the commander, came out, half dressed, with some 
of his clothes in his hand. 

" Deliver to me the fort instantly," said Allen. " By 
what authority .''" asked Delaplace. "In the name of the 
great Jehovah and the Continental Congress ! " answered 
Allen. Delaplace began to speak again, but was perempto- 
rily interrupted ; and, at sight of Allen's drawn sword near 
his head, he gave up the garrison, ordering his men to be 
paraded without arms. 

Thus was Ticonderoga taken, in the gray of the morn- 
ing of the loth of May, 1775. What cost the British nation 
eight millions sterling, a succession of campaigns, and many 
lives, was won in ten minutes by a few undisciplined men, 
without the loss of life or limb. 




Ethan Allen 



1789] THE REVOLUTION 89 

BUNKER HILL 
George H. Calvert 

Biographical Note. George H. Calvert (i 803-1 889) was the great 
grandson of the founder of Maryland. He wrote much verse of 
various kinds. 

Historical Note. General' Gage had himself planned to fortify 
Bunker Hill in Charlestown, but hearing of the scheme, the com- 
mander of the provincial army sent Colonel Prescott to throw up earth- 
works. On the morning of June 17, 1775, when the British looked 
across at the peninsula, they discovered that they had been outwitted. 
Breed's Hill was the point chosen, and lines of earthworks covered 
its slope. Gage immediately sent three thousand troops under Howe 
across the river to dislodge the Americans. Not until the third assault 
was the attack successful. 

Many famous officers were on the field. Colonel Stark, Captain 
Knowlton, General Pomeroy, General Putnam, and General Warren 
moved about among the provincial troops, encouraging and inspir- 
ing them. The soldiers were forbidden to fire until they could see 
the vvliites of the enemy's eyes, and perfect discipline prevailed. 
Notwithstanding their first successes the patriots were finally forced 
by lack of ammunition to fall back and leave the field in the hands 
of the British. 

" Not yet, not yet ; steady, steady ! " 
On came the foe, in even line : 
Nearer and nearer to thrice paces nine. 
We looked into their eyes. " Ready ! " 
A sheet of flame ! A roll of death ! 
They fell by scores ; we held our breath ! 
Then nearer still they came ; 
Another sheet of flame ! 
And brave men fled who never fled before. 
Immortal fight ! 
Foreshadowing flight 
Back to the astounded shore. 



90 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [itto- 

Quickly they rallied, reenforced. 
Mid louder roar of ship's artillery, 
And bursting bombs and whistling musketry 

And shouts and groans, anear, afar, 

All the new din of dreadful war, 

Through their broad bosoms calmly coursed 

The blood of those stout farmers, aiming 

For freedom, manhood's birthrights claiming. 

Onward once more they came ; 

Another sheet of deathful flame ! 

Another and another still : 
They broke, they fled : 
Again they sped 

Down the green, bloody hill. 

Howe, Burgoyne, Clinton, Gage, 
Stormed with commander's rage. 
Into each emptied barge 
They crowd fresh men for a new charge 

Up that great hill. 
Again their gallant blood we spill : 
That volley was the last : 
Our powder failed. 
On three sides fast 
The foe pressed in ; nor quailed 
A man. Their barrels empty, with musket-stocks 
They fought, and gave death-dealing knocks. 
Till Prescott ordered the retreat. 
Then Warren fell ; and through a leaden sleet. 

From Bunker Hill and Breed, 
Stark, Putnam, Pomeroy, Knowlton, Read, 



1789] THE REVOLUTION 9I 

Led off the remnant of those heroes true, 
The foe too shattered to pursue. 
The ground they gained ; but we 
The victory. 

The tidings of that chosen band 

Flowed in a wave of power 
Over the shaken, anxious land, 
To men, to man, a sudden dower. 
From that stanch, beaming horn- 
History took a fresh higher start ; 
And when the speeding messenger, that bare 
The news that strengthened every heart, 
Met near the Delaware 
Riding to take command, 
The leader, who had just been named. 

Who was to be so famed, 
The steadfast, earnest Washington 

With hand uplifted cries. 
His great soul flashing to his eyes, 
" Our liberties are safe ; the cause is won." 

A thankful look he cast to heaven, and then 
His steed he spurred, in haste to lead such noble men. 



SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 
George Lippard 

Biographical Note. George Lippard was an American author whose 
fervid writings were popular in the middle of the last century. 

Historical Note. By the end of June, 1776, the members of the 
Continental Congress had brought in the sanction of their colonies 
that the resolution proposed by Lee on June 7, that the colonies 



92 



AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1770- 



ought to be free, should be carried into effect. Twelve out of the 
thirteen colonies had given voice to the wish for independence. 

On the 1st of July the debate was begun, on the 2d the resolution 
was carried, and on the 4th the Declaration of Independence was 
adopted by the Congress. The bell on the Pennsylvania State House, 
which was rung to announce that Congress had passed the measure, 
bore the words upon it : " Proclaim liberty throughout the land, unto 
all the inhabitants thereof " (Leviticus xxv. 10). 

It is a cloudless summer day ; a clear blue sky arches 
and smiles above a quaint edifice rising among giant trees 

in the center of a wide 
city. That edifice is built 
of plain red brick, with 
heavy window frames and 
a massive hall door. 

Such is the State House 
of Philadelphia in the year 
of our Lord 1776. 

In yonder wooden 

steeple, which crowns the 

summit of that red brick 

building, stands an old man 

with snow-white hair and 

sunburnt face. He is clad 

in humble attire, yet his 

Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, ^Y^ gleams as it is fixed 

Philadelphia on the ponderous outline 

(It was cracked in 1835, while tolling for the of the bell Suspended in the 

death of Chief Justice Marsliall) 

Steeple there. By his side, 
gazing into his sunburnt face in wonder, stands a flaxen- 
haired boy with laughing eyes of summer blue. The old 
man ponders for a moment upon the strange words written 




1789] THE REVOLUTION 93 

upon the bell, then, gathering the boy in his arms, he 
speaks : " Look here, my child. Will you do this old man a 
kindness ? Then hasten down the stairs and wait in the 
hall below till a man gives you a message for me ; when he 
gives you that word, run out into the street and shout it 
up to me. Do you mind?" The boy sprang from the old 
man's arms and threaded his way down the dark stairs. 

Many minutes passed. The old bell keeper was alone. 
" Ah ! " groaned the old man ; " he has forgotten me." As 
the word was upon his lips a merry, ringing laugh broke on 
his ear. And there, among the crowds on the pavement, 
stood the blue-eyed boy, clapping his tiny hands, while the 
breeze blew his flaxen hair all about his face. Then, swell- 
ing his little chest, he raised himself on tiptoe and shouted 
the single word, " Ring ! " 

Do you see that old man's eye fire ? Do you see 
that arm so suddenly bared to the shoulder .'' Do you 
see that withered hand grasping the iron tongue of the 
bell.-* That old man is young again. His veins are fill- 
ing with a new life. Backward and forward, with sturdy 
strokes, he swings the tongue. The bell peals out ; the 
crowds in the street hear it, and burst forth in one long 
shout. Old Delaware hears it, and gives it back in the 
cheers of her thousand sailors. The city hears it, and starts 
up, from desk and workbench, as if an earthquake had 
spoken. 



94 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i770- 

SONG OF MARION'S MEN 
William Cullen Bryant 

Biographical Note. William Cullen Bryant (i 794-1878) was a 
great American poet. For many years he was editor of the New 
York Evening Post. He is often called the father of American verse. 

Historical Note. General Marion, whose epitaph truly says that 
he lived without fear and died without reproach, was one of the great 
generals of the Revolutionary War. With other South Carolina lead- 
ers he found refuge in the great swamps of the state, whence they 
kept up an incessant warfare against the enemy. Their night marches, 
their surprises, and their hard-fought battles make one of the most 
interesting and dramatic chapters of the Revolution. 

Our band is few, but true and tried, 

Our leader frank and bold ; 
The British soldier trembles 

When Marion's name is told. 
Our fortress is the good greenwood, 

Our tent the cypress tree ; 
We know the forest round us, 

As seamen know the sea. 
We know its walls of thorny vines, 

It glades of reedy grass, 
Its safe and silent islands 

Within the dark morass. 

Woe to the English soldiery 

That little dread us near ! 
On them shall light at midnight 

A strange and sudden fear ; 
When, waking to their tents on fire. 

They grasp their arms in vain, 



imq THE REVOLUTION 95 

And they who stand to face us 

Are beat to earth again ; 
And they who fly in terror deem 

A mighty host behind, 
And hear the tramp of thousands 

Upon the hollow wind. 

Then sweet the hour that brings release 

From danger and from toil ; 
We talk the battle over, 

And share the battle's spoil. 
The woodland rings with laugh and shout, 

As if a hunt were up, 
And woodland flowers are gathered 

To crown the soldier's cup. 
With merry songs we mock the wind 

That in the pine top grieves, 
And slumber long and sweetly 

On beds of oaken leaves. 

Well knows the fair and friendly moon 

The band that Marion leads — 
The glitter of their rifles, 

The scampering of their steeds. 
' Tis life to guide the fiery barb 

Across the moonlight plain ; 
' Tis life to feel the night wind 

That lifts his tossing mane. 
A moment in the British camp — 

A moment — and away 
Back to the pathless forest, 

Before the peep of day. 



96 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i770- 

Grave men there are by broad Santee, 

Grave men with hoary hairs ; 
Their hearts are all with Marion, 

For Marion are their prayers. 
And lovely ladies greet our band 

With kindliest welcoming, 
With smiles like those of summer, 

And tears like those of spring. 
For them we wear these trusty arms, 

And lay them down no more 
Till we have driven the Briton 

Forever from our shore. 



NATHAN HALE 
Francis M. Finch 

Biographical Note. Francis Miles Finch was born in 1827. He 
has. distinguished himself in the legal profession. His best-known 
poem is the famous lyric " The Blue and the Gray." 

Historical Note. In 1776, after the retreat from Long Island, 
Washington asked for some discreet officer who would ascertain the 
strength of the enemy's camp. Hale volunteered for this difficult and 
dangerous service. On his return he was captured, and, by order of 
Sir William Howe, the British commander in chief, was hanged. 
The young hero's last words were, " I only regret that I have but 
one life to lose for my country." 

To drum-beat and heart-beat 

A soldier marches by : 
There is color in his cheek, 

There is courage in his eye — 
Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat 

In a moment he must die. 



1789] THE REVOLUTION 97 

By starlight and moonlight 

He seeks the Briton's camp. 
He hears the rustling flag, 

And the armed sentry's tramp ; 
And the starlight and moonlight 

His silent wanderings lamp. 

With slow tread and still tread 

He scans the tented line, 
And he counts the battery guns 

By the gaunt and shadowy pine ; 
And his slow tread and still tread 

Gives no warning sign. 

The dark wave, the plumed wave, 

It meets his eager glance ; 
And it sparkles 'neath the stars 

Like the glimmer of a lance — 
A dark wave, a plumed wave, 

On an emerald expanse. 

A sharp clang, a steel clang, 

And terror in the sound ! 
For the sentry, falcon-eyed. 

In the camp a spy hath found : 
With a sharp clang, a steel clang. 

The patriot is bound. 

With calm brow, steady brow. 

He listens to his doom : 
In his look there is no fear. 

Nor a shadow-trace of gloom ; 



98 



AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1770- 




iS^^^:^;*.' I.r- ^ *-- 



But with calm brow and steady brow 
He robes him for the tomb. 

'Neath the bhie morn, the sunny morn, 

He dies upon the tree ; 
And he mourns that he can lose 

But one life for liberty : 
And in the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

His spirit-wings are free. 



1789] THE REVOLUTION 99 

From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, 

From monument and urn, 
The sad of earth, the glad of heaven. 

His tragic fate shall learn ; 
And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf 

The name of Hale shall burn. 



WASHINGTON'S INAUGURAL JOURNEY 

Washingtok Irving 

Historical Note. At the close of the war the present Constitution 
of the United States was adopted. This went into effect in 1789, and 
Washington was unanimously elected President. 

On the 14th of April he received a letter from the 
President of Congress, duly notifying him of his election, 
and he prepared to set out immediately for New York, the 
seat of government. An entry in his diary, dated the i6th, 
says : " About ten o'clock I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, 
to private life, and to domestic felicity ; and with a mind 
oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I 
have words to express, set out for New York with the best 
disposition to render service to my country in obedience to 
its call, but with less hope of answering its expectations." 

His progress to the seat of government was a continual 
ovation. Old and young, women and children, thronged 
the highways to bless and welcome him. Deputations of 
the most respectable inhabitants from the principal places 
came forth to meet and escort him. At Baltimore, on 
his arrival and departure, his carriage was attended by a 
numerous cavalcade of citizens, and he was saluted by the 
thunder of artillery. 



lOO AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i770- 

At Chester, where he stopped to breakfast, there were 
preparations for a pubHc entrance into Philadelphia. Cav- 
alry had assembled from the surrounding country, a superb 
white horse was led out for Washington to mount, and 
a grand procession set forward, with General St. Clair of 
Revolutionary notoriety at its head. It gathered numbers 
as it advanced, passed under triumphal arches entwined 
with laurel, and entered Philadelphia amid the shouts of 
the multitude. 

We question whether any of these testimonials of a 
nation's gratitude affected Washington more sensibly than 
those he received at Trenton. It was on a sunny after- 
noon when he arrived on the banks of the Delaware, where 
twelve years before he had crossed in darkness and storm, 
through clouds of snow and drifts of floating ice, on his 
daring attempt to strike a blow at a triumphant enemy. 

Here at present all was peace and simshine, the broad 
river flowed placidly along, and crowds awaited him on the 
opposite bank, to hail him with love and transport. 

We will not dwell on the joyous ceremonials with which 
he was welcomed, but there was one too peculiar to be 
omitted. The reader may remember Washington's gloomy 
night on the banks of the Assunpink, which flows through 
Trenton, — the camp fires of Cornwallis in front of him, 
the Delaware full of floating ice in the rear, and his sudden 
resolve on that midnight retreat which turned the fortunes 
of the campaign. On the bridge crossing that eventful 
stream the ladies of Trenton had caused a triumphal arch 
to be erected. It was entwined with evergreens and laurels, 
and bore the inscription, " The defender of the mothers will 
be the protector of the daughters." At this bridge the 




George Washington 



1789] THE REVOLUTION lOI 

matrons of the city were assembled to pay him reverence ; 
and as he passed under the arch a number of young girls, 
dressed in white and crowned with garlands, strewed flowers 
before him, singing an ode expressive of their love and 
gratitude. Never was ovation more graceful, touching, and 
sincere ; and Washington, tenderly affected, declared that 
the impression of it on his heart could never be effaced. 

In respect to his reception at New York, Washington 
had signified in a letter to Governor Clinton that none 
could be so congenial to his feelings as a quiet entry devoid 
of ceremony ; but his modest wishes were not complied 
with. At Elizabethtown Point a committee of both Houses 
of Congress, with various civic functionaries, waited by 
appointment to receive him. He embarked on board of a 
splendid barge constructed for the occasion. It was manned 
by thirteen branch pilots, masters of vessels, in white uni- 
forms, and commanded by Commodore Nicholson. Other 
barges, fancifully decorated, followed, having on board the 
heads of departments and other public officers, and several 
distinguished citizens. . . . 

He approached the landing-place of Murray's wharf amid 
the ringing of bells, .the roaring of cannon, and the shout- 
ing of multitudes collected on every pier head. On landing 
he was received by Governor Clinton. ... At this junc- 
ture an officer stepped up and requested Washington's 
.orders, announcing himself as commanding his guard. 
Washington desired him to proceed according to the direc- 
tions he might have received in the present arrangements, 
but said that for the future the affection of his fellow- 
citizens was all the guard he wanted. 

From John Fiske's Irving's Life of Washi>igton 



I02 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 



Selections from Prose and Poetry 

The Boston Tea Party. — Holmes. 

Paul Reveie's Ride. — Longfellow. 

Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill. — Holmes. 

The Psalm of the West (Battle of Lexington). — Lanier. 

The Green Mountain Boys. — Bryant. 

Warren's Address. — Morgan. 

The Old South. • — Whittier. 

Burgoyne's Surrender. — Pitt. 

Under the Washington Elm. — Lowell. 

Yorktown. — Whittier. 



Books for Children 

The Boston Tea Party. — Watson. 

The Boys of '76. — Coffin. 

The Boston Boys of 1775.- — Otis. 

From Colony to Commonwealth. — Tiffany. 

The Boys of Fort Schuyler. — Otis. 

Camps and Firesides of the Revolution. — Hart. 

In the Hands of the Redcoats. — Tomlinson. 

The Minute Boys of Lexington. — Strathmeyer. 

When Boston Braved the King. — Barton. 

Three Little Daughters of the Revolution. — Perry. 

George Washington. — Scudder. 

Grandfather's Chair. — Hawthorne. 

Teacher's List 

The American Revolution. — Fiske. 

The American Revolution. — Lodge. 

Conciliation with the American Colonies. — Burke. 

Washington. — Irving. 

George Washington. — Lodge. 

Adams and Jefferson. — Webster. 

Richard Carvel. — Churchill. 

Hugh Wynne. — Mitchell. 

The Virginians. — Thackeray. 



CHAPTER V 

THE UNION 

Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute. — Pinckney 

There never was a good war or a bad peace. — Franklin 

One country, one constitution, one destiny. — Webster 

First in peace, first in war, first in the hearts of his country- 
men. — Lee 

Don't give up the ship ! — Lawrence 

We have met the enemy and they are ours. — Perry 

Be sure you are right, then go ahead. — Crockett 

If we fail, let us fail like men, lash ourselves to our gallant tars, 
and expire together in one common struggle, fighting for Free Trade 
and Seaman's Rights. — Clay 

When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as 
public property. — Jefferson 

Here's to all the good people, wherever they be, 

Who have grown in the shade of the liberty tree. — Holmes 

Westward the star of empire takes its way. — Bancroft 

America ! half-brother of the world ! with something good and bad 
of every land. — Bailey 

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise. 

The queen of the world and the child of the skies. — Dwight 



I04 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i798- 

HAIL COLUMBIA 
Joseph Hopkinson 

Biographical Note. Joseph Hopkinson (i 770-1842) was the son of 
Francis Hopinkson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Both father and son were distinguished lawyers. 

Historical Note. " Hail Columbia" was first sung at the Chestnut 
Street Theater in Philadelphia, in i 798, when war with France seemed 
probable. 

Hail, Columbia ! happy land ! 

Hail, ye heroes ! heaven-born band ! 

Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause. 

Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause, 
And when the storm of war was gone, 
Enjoyed the peace your valor won. 

Let independence be our boast, 

Ever mindful what it cost ; 

Ever grateful for the prize, 

Let its altar reach the skies. 

Chorus 

Firm, united, let us be, 
Rallying round our Liberty ; 
As a band of brothers joined. 
Peace and safety we shall find. 

Immortal patriots ! rise once more : 
Defend your rights, defend your shore : 
Let no rude foe, with impious hand. 
Let no rude foe, with impious hand. 



1830] THE UNION 105 

Invade the shrine where sacred lies 
Of toil and blood the well-earned prize. 

While offering peace sincere and just, 

In Heaven we place a manly trust 

That truth and justice will prevail, 

And every scheme of bondage fail. — Cho. 

Sound, sound the trump of Fame ! 
Let Washington's great name 

Ring through the world with loud applause. 

Ring through the world with loud applause ; 
Let every clime to Freedom dear 
Listen with a joyful ear. 

With equal skill and godlike power 

He p-overned in the fearful hour 

o 

Of horrid war ; or guides with ease 

The happier times of honest peace. — Cho. 

Behold the chief who now commands, 
Once more to serve his country, stands — 
The rock on which the storm will beat. 
The rock on which the storm will beat ; 
But, armed in virtue firm and true, 
His hopes are fixed on Heaven and you. 
When hope was sinking in dismay. 
And glooms obscured Columbia's day, 
His steady mind, from changes free, 
Resolved on death or liberty. — Cho. 



I06 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i798- 

THE CONSTITUTION AND THE GUERRIERE 

Historical Note. England had a magnificent navy of a thousand 
ships. America had twelve ! One of the twelve was the ConstitJition, 
commanded by Captain Isaac Hull. While cruising off the coast of 
Nova Scotia, August 19, 18 12, she encountered the British man-of- 
war Guerriere. In twenty minutes after the fight opened, the Guer- 
riere surrendered, a hopeless wreck. 

I often have been told 

That the British seamen bold 

Could beat the tars of France neat and handy O ; 

But they never found their match, 

Till the Yankees did them catch, 

For the Yankee tars for fighting are the dandy O. 

Oh, the Guerriere so bold 

On the foaming ocean rolled, 

Commanded by Dacres the grandee O ; 

For the choice of British crew 

That a rammer ever drew 

Could beat the Frenchmen two to one quite handy O. 

When the frigate hove in view, 

" Oh," said Dacres to his crew, 

" Prepare ye for action and be handy O ; 

On the weather gauge we '11 get her." 

And to make his men fight better, 

He gave to them gunpowder and good brandy O. 

Now this boasting Briton cries, 
"Make that Yankee ship your prize; 
You can in thirty minutes do it handy O, 




•The Constitution" 



1830] THE UNION 107 

Or twenty-five; I'm sure 

You '11 do it in a score ; 

I will give you a double share of good brandy O. 

" When prisoners we 've made them, 

With switchel we will treat them, 

We will treat them with 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' O" ; 

The British balls flew hot, 

But the Yankees answered not, 

Until they got a distance that was handy O. 

*' Oh," cried Hull unto his crew, 

We '11 try what we can do ; 

If we beat those boasting Britons we're the dandy O." 

The first broadside we poured 

Brought the mizzen by the board. 

Which doused the royal ensign quite handy O. 

Oh, Dacres he did sigh, 

And to his officers did cry, 

" I did not think these Yankees were so handy O." 

The second told so well 

That the fore and main mast fell. 

Which made this lofty frigate look quite handy O. 

"Oh," says Dacres, "we're undone," 

So he fires a lee gun. 

Our drummer struck up ' Yankee Doodle Dandy ' O ; 

When Dacres came on board 

To deliver up his sword, 

He was loath to part with it, it looked so handy O. 



I08 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i798- 

" You may keep it," says brave Hull. 

" What makes you look so dull ? 

Cheer up and take a glass of good brandy O ; 

O Britons, now be still, 

Since we 've hooked you in the gill, 

Don't boast upon Dacres the grandee O." 

Old Ballad 



THE SURRENDER AT QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 
Benson John Lossing 

Biographical Note. Benson John Lossing, an American historian 
and engraver, was born in 1813. He published numerous illustrated 
works. 

Historical Note. On the breaking out of the War of 18 12, Win- 
field Scott, afterwards one of the most famous of American generals, 
was ordered to the Canadian frontier, where he succeeded General 
Van Rensselaer, who had been severely wounded. Notwithstanding 
Scott's heroic example and the bravery of his men, he was forced to 
surrender to General Sheaffe, the commander of the British forces. 

At this moment Lieutenant-Colonel Scott appeared upon 
Queenston Heights. He was dressed in full uniform and 
commanded the attention and admiration of all the soldiers. 
He was six feet five inches in height, with the finest manly 
proportions of figure and dignity of bearing. As superior 
to all others upon the field in rank, he assumed the com- 
mand of the regulars. 

Reenforcements having arrived at about this time, Scott 
found himself in command of three hundred and fifty 
regulars. 



1830] THE UNION 109 

General Sheaffe arrived with his reenforcements late in 
the afternoon. Very few of the militia had come over from 
Lewiston during the day. A pressing demand was now 
made for them. It was a critical moment. Scott had not 
more than three hundred effective men, while Sheaffe had 
at least thirteen hundred. Scott looked anxiously toward 
Lewiston, but not a single boat was seen in motion. 
Indeed, there were few there. A panic had seized the 
militia. The commands and pleadings of General Van 
Rensselaer were equally vain. Not a company would cross 
the river! This fact was communicated to Scott when the 
strong foe was maneuvering cautiously with the intention of 
striking fatally. Retreat and succor were equally impossi- 
ble at that moment, so the gallant commander resolved to 
fight as long as battle should be possible. 

He mounted a log in front of his wearied band, and said: 
"The enemy's balls begin to thin our ranks. His numbers 
are overwhelming. In a moment the shock must come, and 
there is no retreat. We are in the beginning of a national 
war. Let us then die, arms in hand. Our country demands 
the sacrifice. The example will not be lost. The blood of 
the slain will make heroes of the living. Those who follow 
will avenge our fall and their country's wrongs. W/io dare 
to stand f " All ! " was the cry from every lip. 

The shock soon came. For a while the Americans stood 
firm. They finally gave way as the enemy began to sur- 
round them, and they fell back to the brow of the high 
bank overlooking their landing place. Some let themselves 
down by clinging to the bushes, and escaped. It was 
speedily agreed to surrender, and messengers with offers 
of submission were sent, but never returned. The Indians 



no AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i798- 

were between the American and the British lines, and mur- 
dered or captured those who were sent on the humiliating 
errand. Scott determined to carry a flag of truce himself. 
He fastened his white handkerchief upon his sword, and, 
accompanied by Captains Totten and Gibson, went out to 
seek a parley with Sheaffe. They kept close along the edge 
of the river, under shelter of the bank, until they reached 
a road leading up to the village. There they were con- 
fronted by two powerful Indians, who attempted to seize 
Scott. In an instant the blades of his attendants came 
from their scabbards, and the menace was met first by 
rifle shots from the Indians and then by their knives and 
hatchets. 

At that critical moment a British officer and some 
soldiers appeared, and Scott and his companions were con- 
ducted in safety to General Sheaffe. Terms of capitulation 
were soon agreed upon, and Scott and his little band of less 
than three hundred were surrendered with the honors of 

war. 

From Lossing's Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812 



1830] THE UNION III 

THE SHANNON AND THE CHESAPEAKE 
Thomas Tracy Bouve 

Biographical Note. Thomas Tracy Bouve was born in 1875. He 
has contributed several poems to current literature. 

Historical Note. On June i, 181 3, the American frigate Chesa- 
peake encountered the British frigate Shannon at the mouth of 
Boston Harbor. Captain Lawrence of the Chesapeake was mortally 
wounded and his vessel was captured. He had been in command 
only a few days, and had an undisciplined crew. 

The captain of the Shannon came sailing up the bay, 

A reehng ,wind flung out behind his pennons bright and 

gay ; 

His cannon crashed a challenge ; the smoke that hid the 

sea 
Was driven hard to windward and drifted back to lee. 

The captain of the Shannon sent word into the town : 
Was Lawrence there, and would he dare to sail his frigate 

down 
And meet him at the harbor's mouth and fight him gun 

to gun 
For honor's sake, with pride at stake, until the fight was 

won .'' 

Now long the gallant Lawrence had scoured the bitter 

main ; 
With many a scar and wound of war his ship was home 

again. 
His crew, relieved from service, were scattered far and 

wide. 
And scarcely one, his duty done, had lingered by his side. 



112 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i798- 

But to refuse the challenge ? Could he outlive the shame ? 
Brave men and true, but deadly few, he gathered to his 

fame. 
Once more the great ship Chesapeake prepared her for the 

fight,— 
"I'll bring the foe to town in tow," he said, "before 

to-night ! " 

High on the hills of Hingham that overlook the shore, 
To watch the fray and hope and pray, — for they could do no 

more, — 
The children of the country watched the children of the 

sea 
When the smoke drove hard to windward and drifted back 

to lee. 

"How can he fight," they whispered, "with only half a 

crew. 
Though they be rare to do and dare, yet what can brave 

men do .'' " 
But when the CJiesapeake came down, the Stars and Stripes 

on high. 
Stilled was each fear, and cheer on cheer resounded to the 

sky. 

The captain of the Sha7i7ion, he swore both long and loud : 
" This victory, where'er it be, shall make two nations 

proud ! 
Now onward to this victory or downward to defeat ! 
A sailor's life is sweet with strife, a sailor's death as 

sweet." 



1830] THE UNION I 13 

And as when lightnings rend the sky and gloomy thunders 

roar, 
And crashing surge plays devil's dirge upon the stricken 

shore, 
With thunder and with sheets of flame the two ships rang 

with shot, 
And every gun burst forth a sun of iron crimson hot. 

And twice they lashed together and twice they tore apart, 
And iron balls burst wooden walls and pierced each oaken 

heart. 
Still from the hills of Hingham men watched with hopes 

and fears. 
While all the bay was torn that day with shot that rained 

like tears. 

The tall masts of the Chesapeake went groaning by the 

board ; 
The SJia)inc7is spars were weak with scars when Broke cast 

down his sword : 
" Now woe," he cried, "to England, and shame and woe to 

me ! " 
The smoke drove hard to windward and drifted back to lee. 

"Give them one breaking broadside more," he cried, 

" before we strike ! " 
But one grim ball that ruined all for hope and home alike 
Laid Lawrence low in glory ; yet from his pallid lip 
Rang to the land his last command : " Boys, don't give up 

the ship ! " 



114 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i798- 

The wounded wept like women when they hauled her 

ensign down. 
Men's cheeks were pale as with the tale from Hingham 

to the town 
They hurried swift in silence, while toward the eastern 

night 
The victor bore away from shore and vanished out of sight. 

Hail to the great ship Chesapeake ! Hail to the hero brave 
Who fought her fast, and loved her last, and shared her 

sudden grave ! 
And glory be to those that died, for all eternity ; 
They lie apart at the mother-heart of God's eternal sea. 



THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 
Francis Scott Key 

Biographical Note. Francis Scott Key (i 779-1 843), best known 
as the author of " The Star-Spangled Banner," was born in Maryland. 
He practiced law for many years in Washington, D.C., where he died. 

Historical Note. The poem was written on an old envelope while 
the author was a prisoner on board the British fleet bombarding Fort 
McHenry, in Baltimore Harbor, in 1 814. All night he watched the 
attack anxiously, and when " the morning's first beam " disclosed his 
country's flag still flying from the fort, his joy was expressed in 
this stirring lyric. 

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming — 

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the clouds of 
the fight. 
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.? 



1830] 



THE UNION 115 



And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting hi air, 
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. 
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ? 

On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep, 
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, 

As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses ? 
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream ; 
'T is the star-spangled banner ; oh, long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ! 

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore 

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion 
A home and a country should leave us no more ? 

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. 
No refuge could save the hireling and slave 
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave ; 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand 

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation ! 
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land 
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. 
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. 
And this be our motto, — " In God is our trust'': 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 



Il6 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i798- 

THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY 
Edward Everett Hale 

Biographical Note. Dr. Edward Everett Hale (1822- ) is a 
famous Boston minister and author. His influence as a writer and 
as a worker for humanity has been strongly felt. 

Historical Note. The Man without a Country has been called the 
best short story in American literature. This brief selection gives 
only a hint of the power of the original. 

Philip Nolan was as fine a young officer as there was 
in the " Legion of the West." When Aaron Burr made his 
first dashing expedition down to New Orleans in 1805, he 
met this gay young fellow, and induced him to turn traitor 
to his country, 

Nolan was brought before the courts in the great trea- 
son trial at Richmond, and was proved guilty enough ; yet 
we should never have heard of him but that, when the 
president of the court asked him whether he wished to 
say anything to show that he had always been faithful to 
the United States, he cried out : " Curse the United States ! 
I wish I may never hear of the United States again ! " 

The judge was terribly shocked. If Nolan had com- 
pared George Washington to Benedict Arnold, or had 
cried, "God save King George!" he would not have felt 
worse. He called the court into his private room, and 
returned in fifteen minutes, with a face hke a sheet, to 
say : " Prisoner, hear the sentence of the Court ! The 
Court decides, subject to the approval of the President, 
that you never hear the name of the United States again." 

He never did hear her name but once again. From that 
moment, September 2^, 1807, till the day he died, May 1 1, 



1830] THE UNION 117 

1863, he never heard her name again. The Secretary of 
the Navy was requested to put Nolan on board a govern- 
ment vessel bound on a long cruise, and to direct that he 
should be only so far confined there as to make certain 
that he never saw or heard of the country. There was no 
going home for him, even to a prison. . . . 

According to the size of the ship, you had him at your 
mess more or less often at dinner. His breakfast he ate 
in his own room, which was where a sentinel or somebody 
on the watch could see the door. Sometimes, when the 
marines or sailors had any special jollification, they were 
permitted to invite "Plain-Buttons," as they called him. 
Then Nolan was sent with some officer, and the men were 
forbidden to speak of home while he was there. They 
called him " Plain-Buttons " because, while he always chose 
to wear a regulation army uniform, he was not permitted 
to wear the army button, for the reason that it bore either 
the initials or the insignia of the country he had disowned. 

As he was almost never permitted to go on shore, even 
though the vessel lay in port for months, his time at the 
best hung heavy ; and everybody was permitted to lend 
him books, if they were not published in America and 
made no allusion to it. He had almost all the foreign 
papers that came into the ship, sooner or later ; only some- 
body must go over them first, and cut out any advertise- 
ment or stray paragraph that alluded to America. This 
was a Httle cruel sometimes, when right in the midst of 
one of Napoleon's battles poor Nolan would find a great 
hole, because on the back of that paper there had been an 
advertisement of a packet for New York, or a scrap from 
the President's message. 



Il8 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i798- 

Among the books lent to him was a copy of TJie Lay of 
the Last Minstrel. Nobody thought there could be any 
risk of anything national in that. So Nolan was permitted 
to join the circle one afternoon when some of us were sit- 
ting on deck, and took his turn in reading aloud. Nobody 
in the circle knew a line of the poem, only that it was all 
magic and chivalry and was hundreds of years ago. Poor 
Nolan read steadily through the fifth canto, stopped a 
minute, and then began, without a thought of what was 
coming, — 

Breathes there the man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, • — 
This is my own, my native land ! 

Then they all saw that something was the matter, but 
he expected to get through, I suppose, turned a little pale, 
but plunged on, — 

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 

From wandering on a foreign strand ? 
If such there breathe, go, mark him well, — 

By this time the men were all beside themselves, wish- 
ing there was any way to make him turn over two pages ; 
but he had not quite enough presence of mind for that ; he 
gagged a little, colored crimson, and staggered on, — 

For him no minstrel raptures swell ; 
High though his titles, proud his name. 
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, 
Despite those titles, power, and pelf, 
The wretch, concentered all in self, — 



1830] THE UNION 119 

and here the poor fellow choked, could not go on, but 
started up, swung the book into the sea, and vanished into 
his stateroom. 

I first came to understand something about "the man 
without a country" one day when we overhauled a dirty 
little schooner which had slaves on board. An ofificer was 
sent to take charge of her, and after a few minutes he sent 
back his boat to ask that some one might be sent him who 
could speak Portuguese. 

Nolan stepped out and said he should be glad to in- 
terpret, if the captain wished, as he understood the lan- 
guage. The captain thanked him, fitted out another boat 
with him, and in this boat it was my luck to go. 

" Tell them they are free," said Vaughan. 

Nolan explained it in such Portuguese as they could un- 
derstand. Then there was such a yell of delight, clinching 
of fists, leaping, dancing, and kissing of Nolan's feet ! 

"Tell them," said Vaughan, well pleased, "that I will 
take them all to Cape Palmas." 

This did not answer so well. Cape Palmas was practi- 
cally as far from the homes of most of them as New 
Orleans or Rio Janeiro was. Vaughan was rather disap- 
pointed at this result of his liberality, and asked Nolan 
eagerly what they said. The drops stood on poor Nolan's 
white forehead as he hushed the men down and said : 
" They say, ' Not Palmas.' They say, ' Take us home ; take 
us to our own country ; take us to our own house ; take us 
to our own pickaninnies and our own women.' " 

" Tell them yes, yes, yes ; tell them they shall go to the 
Mountains of the Moon, if they will. If I sail the schooner 
through the Great White Desert, they shall go home." 



120 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i798- 

And after some fashion Nolan said so. 

And then they all fell to kissing him again. 

But Nolan could not stand it long, and getting Vaughan 
to say he might go back, he beckoned me down into our 
boat. As we lay back in the stern sheets and the men 
gave way, he said to me : " Youngster, let that show you 
what it is to be without a family, without a home, and 
without a country. And if you are ever tempted to do a 
thing that shall put a bar between you and your family, 
your home, and your country, pray God in his mercy to 
take you that instant home to his own heaven. 

" Stick by your family, boy ; forget that you have a self, 
while you do everything for them. Think of your home, 
boy ; write and send and talk about it. Let it be nearer 
and nearer to your thought the farther you have to travel 
from it ; and rush back to it when you are free, as that 
poor black slave is doing now. 

"And for your country, boy," and the words rattled in 
his throat, "and for that flag," and he pointed to the ship, 
" never dream but of serving her as she bids you, though 
the service carry you through a thousand hells. No matter 
what happens to you, no matter who flatters you or abuses 
you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but 
you pray God to bless that flag. 

" Remember, boy, that behind all these men you have to 
do with, behind officers and government and people even, 
there is the Country herself, your Country, and that you 
belong to her as you belong to your own mother." 

Adapted 



1830] THE UNION 121 

OLD IRONSIDES 
Oliver Wendell Holmes 

Biographical Note. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), the 
poet and wit of Boston, was also a noted physician, professor, and 
prose writer. He was the author of a series of delightful books, be- 
ginning with Tlie Aiitocrat of the Breakfast-Table, and ending with 
Over the Teacups. 

Historical Note. The following lines, written in 1830, were called 
forth by a rumor that the frigate Constitution was about to be broken 
up as unfit for service. 

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down ! 

Long has it waved on high, 
And many an eye has danced to see 

That banner in the sky ; 
Beneath it rung the battle shout, 

And burst the cannon's roar ; 
The meteor of the ocean air 

Shall sweep the clouds no more. 

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood, 

Where knelt the vanquished foe. 
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood, 

And waves were white below, 
No more shall feel the victor's tread. 

Or know the conquered knee ; 
The harpies of the shore shall pluck 

The eagle of the sea. 

Oh, better that her shattered hulk 

Should sink beneath the wave ; 
Her thunders shook the mighty deep. 

And there should be her grave. 



122 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 

Nail to the mast her holy flag, 

Set every threadbare sail, 
And give her to the god of storms, 

The lightning and the gale. 



Selections from Prose and Poetry 

The Warship of 1812. — Poetry of the People. 
The Embargo. — Bryant. 
Lewis and Clark. — Irving. 
Eulogy on Washington. — Lee. 
Character of Henry Clay. — Seward. 
The American Flag. — Drake. 



Books for Children 

The Conquest of the Old Northwest. — Baldwin. 
On Fighting Decks in 181 2. — Costello. 
The Man without a Country. — Hale. 
Two Years before the Mast. — Dana. 
The Redskins. — Cooper. 



Teacher's List 

The Old Northwest. — Hinsdale. 

The Critical Period. — Fiske. 

The Making of a Nation. — Walker. 

The Louisiana Purchase. — Hitchcock. 

The War of 1S12. — Roosevelt. 

Lewis and Clark. — Lighton. 

Paul Jones. — Hapgood. 

The Choir Invisible. — Allen. 

Old Kaskaskia. — Catherwood. 

Margaret. — Judd. 

Hamilton. — Lodge. 

Jefferson. — Morse. 



CHAPTER VI 

KEEPING THE UNION 

Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable. 

Webster 
The people's government, made for th« people, made by the people, 
and answerable to the people. — Webster 

The Law : It has honored us ; may we honor it ! — Webster 

Our Federal Union : it must be preserved. — Jackson 

The time has arrived when the progress of nullification must be 
arrested, or the hopes of permanent union surrendered. — Webster 

I am a man and you are another. — Black Hawk (to President Jackson) 

But there is a higher law than the Constitution. — Seward 

Sir, I had rather be right than President. — Clay 

I have heard something about allegiance to the South. I know no 
South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance. 

Clay 
That is best blood that hath most iron in 't 
To edge resolve with, pouring without stint 
For what makes manhood dear. — Lowell 

Fifty-four forty or fight ! — Allen 

General Taylor never surrenders. — Crittenden 

Come, listen all unto my song ; it is no silly fable ; 
'T is all about the mighty cord they call the Atlantic Cable. 
Bold Cyrus Field he said, says he, "I have a pretty notion 
That I can run a telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean." — Saxe 

Free soil, free men, free speech, Fremont ! — Party Cry of ''48. 

123 



124 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [isna- 

AMERICA 
Samuel Francis Smith 

Biographical Note. Samuel Francis Smith was a Baptist clergy- 
man who was born in Boston, in 1808, and died in Bridgeport, Con- 
necticut, in 1895. He was the author of several famous hymns. 

Historical Note. "America " was written in 1832. It was sung for 
the first time on the Fourth of July, 1832, by five hundred children in 
Park Street Church, Boston, Mass. 

My country, 't is of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty, 

Of thee I sing ; 
Land where my fathers died, 
Land of the Pilgrims' pride, 
From every mountain side 

Let freedom ring. 

My native country, thee, 
Land of the noble free, 

Thy name I love ; 
I love thy rocks and rills, 
Thy woods and templed hills ; 
My heart with rapture thrills 

Like that above. 

Let music swell the breeze, 
And ring from all the trees, 

Sweet freedom's song ; 
Let mortal tongues awake, 
Let all that breathe partake, 
Let rocks their silence break, — 

The sound prolong. 



1852] KEEPING THE UNION 125 

Our fathers' God, to thee, 
Author of hberty, 

To thee I sing ; 
Long may our land be bright 
With freedom's holy light ; 
Protect us by thy might, 

Great God our King. 

A NEW ENGLAND SABBATH 

Lucy Larcom 

Biographical Note. Lucy Larcom was born in Beverly, Mas- 
sachusetts, in 1826, and died in 1893. She was employed in the mills 
at Lowell ; afterwards she became assistant editor of Our Young 
Folks. Her books include sketches in prose and some excellent verse. 

Historical Note. The observance of Sunday in early times in New 
England was marked by great strictness. Children stood in awe of 
the tithingman (referred to by the author as " the tidy-man "), whose 
business it was to keep order in the meetinghouse. 

The Sabbath mornings in those old times had a peculiar 
charm. They seemed so much cleaner than other morn- 
ings ! The roads and the grassy footpaths seemed fresher, 
and the air itself purer and more wholesome than on week 
days. Saturday afternoon and evening were regarded as 
part of the Sabbath (we were taught that it was heathenish 
to call the day Sunday) ; work and playthings were laid 
aside and every body, as well as every thing, was subjected 
to a rigid renovation. Sabbath morning would not have 
seemed like itself without a clean house, a clean skin, and 
tidy and spotless clothing. 

The Saturday's baking was a great event, the brick oven 
being heated to receive the flour bread, the flour-and-Indian 



126 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i832- 

and the rye-and- Indian bread, the traditional pot of beans, 
the Indian pudding, and the pies; for no further cooking 
was to be done until Monday. We smaller girls thought it 
a great privilege to be allowed to watch the oven till the 
roof of it should be " white hot," so that the coals could be 
shoveled out. 

Then it was so still, both out of doors and within ! We 
were not allowed to walk anywhere except in the yard or 
garden. I remember wondering whether it was never Sab- 
bath day over the fence, in the next field ; whether the 
field was not a kind of heathen field, since we could only 
go into it on week days. The wild flowers over there were 
perhaps Gentile blossoms. Only the flowers in the garden 
were well-behaved Christians. It was Sabbath in the house, 
and possibly even on the doorstep; but not much farther. 
The town itself was so quiet that it scarcely seemed to 
breathe. The sound of wheels was seldom heard in the 
streets on that day; if we heard it, we expected some 
unusual explanation. 

I liked to go to meeting, — not wholly oblivious to the 
fact that going there sometimes implied wearing a new 
bonnet and my best white dress and musHn "vandyke," 
of which adornments, if very new, I vainly supposed the 
whole congregation to be as admiringly aware as I was 
myself. 

But my Sabbath-day enjoyment was not wholly without 
drawbacks. It was so hard, sometimes, to stand up through 
the "long prayer," and to sit still through the "ninthly," 
and "tenthly," and "finally" of the sermon! It was im- 
pressed upon me that good children were never restless 
in meeting, and never laughed or smiled, however their big 



1852] KEEPING THE UNION 12/ 

brothers tempted them with winks or grimaces. And I did 
want to be good. 

I was not tall enough to see very far over the top of 
the pew. I think there were only three persons that came 
within range of my eyes. One was a dark man with black 
curly hair brushed down in "bangs" over his eyebrows, 
who sat behind a green baize curtain near the outside 
door, peeping out at me, as I thought. I had an impres- 
sion that he was the "tidy-man," though that personage 
had become mythical long before my day. He had a drag- 
onish look, to me; and I tried never to meet his glance. 

But I did sometimes gaze more earnestly than was polite 
at a dear, demure little lady who sat in the corner of the 
pew next ours, her downcast eyes shaded by a green calash, 
and her hidden right hand gently swaying a long-handled 
Chinese fan. She was the deacon's wife, and I felt greatly 
interested in her movements and in the expression of her 
face, because I thought she represented the people they 
called " saints," who were, as I supposed, about the same as 
first cousins to the angels. 

The third figure in sight was the minister. I did not 
think he ever saw me; he was talking to the older people. 
He seemed to me so very good that I was very much afraid 
of him. I was a little afraid of my father, but then he 
sometimes played with us children ; and besides, my father 
was only a man. I thought the minister belonged to some 
different order of beings. Up there in the pulpit he seemed 
to me so far off — oh! a great deal farther off than God 
did. His distance made my reverence for him take the 
form of idolatry. If any one had told me that the minister 
ever did or thought anything that was wrong, I should have 



128 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i832- 

felt as if the foundations of the earth under me were shaken. 
I wondered if he ever did laugh. Perhaps it was wicked for 
a minister even to smile. 

One day, when I was very little, I met the minister in 
the street ; and he, probably recognizing me as the child 
of one of his parishioners, actually bowed to me! His 
bows were always ministerially profound, and I was so 
overwhelmed with surprise and awe that I forgot to make 
the proper response of a "curtsey," but ran home as fast 
as I could go, to proclaim the wonder. It would not have 
astonished me any more, if one of the tall Lombardy pop- 
lars that stood along the sidewalk had laid itself down at 

my feet. 

From A New England Girlhood 



TO ARMS 
Park Benjamin 

Biographical Note. Park Benjamin was born in British Guiana in 
1809, and died in New York in 1864. He was a journalist and lec- 
turer, and wrote many popular poems. 

Historical Note. The war with Mexico was brought on by a dispute 
concerning the western boundary of Texas. There is no doubt that 
the American soldiers were sent, in General Grant's words, " to pro- 
voke a fight." It was a war of which we have little reason to be proud. 
In February, 1847, the battle of Buena Vista, in the mountains of 
Mexico, was won by the United States troops. 

Awake ! arise, ye men of might ! 

The glorious hour is nigh, — 
Your eagle pauses in his flight, 

And screams his battle-cry. 



1852] KEEPING THE UNION 129 

From North to South, from East to West : 

Send back an answering cheer, 
And say farewell to peace and rest, 
' And banish doubt and fear. 

Arm ! arm ! your country bids you arm ! 

Fling out your banners free — 
Let drum and trumpet sound alarm. 

O'er mountains, plain, and sea. 

March onward from th' Atlantic shore, 

To Rio Grande's tide — 
Fight as your fathers fought of yore ! 

Die as your fathers died ! 

Go ! vindicate your country's fame. 

Avenge your country's wrong ! 
The sons should own a deathless name. 

To whom such sires belong. 

The kindred of the noble dead 

As noble deeds should dare : 
The fields whereon their blood was shed 

A deeper stain must bear. 

To arms ! to arms ! ye men of might ; 

Away from home, away ! 
The first and foremost in the fight 

Are sure to win the day ! 



I30 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1832- 

THE ANGELS OF BUENA VISTA 

John G. Whittier 

Biographical Note. John Greenleaf Whittier (i 807-1892), the 
Quaker poet of New England, was well known for his liberal spirit 
and for the high moral character of his poems. 

First Sister. Speak and tell us, our Ximena, looking north- 
ward far away, 

O'er the camp of the invaders, o'er the Mexican array. 

Who is losing } who is winning .'' are they far or come they 
near .'' 

Look abroad, and tell us, sister, whither rolls the storm we 
hear } 

Second Sister {Ximena). Down the hills of Angostura still 

the storm of battle rolls ; 
Blood is flowing, men are dying ; God have mercy on their 

souls ! 
First. Who is losing } who is winning .'' 
Second. Over hill and over plain, 

I see but smoke of cannon clouding through the mountain 

rain. ... 

First. Look forth once more, Ximena ! 

Second. Ah ! the smoke has rolled away ; 

And I see the Northern rifles gleaming down the ranks of 

gray. 
Hark ! that sudden blast of bugles ! there the troop of 

Mifion wheels; 
There the Northern horses thunder, with the cannon at 

their heels. 



1852] KEEPING THE UNION 131 

Nearer came the storm and nearer, rolling fast and f right- 
fid on : 

First. Speak, Ximena, speak and tell us, who has lost, and 
who has won ? 

Second. Alas ! alas ! I know not ; friend and foe together 
fall, 

O'er the dying rush the living : pray, my sisters, for them 
all! 

Lo ! the wind the smoke is lifting. Blessed Mother, save 

my brain ! 
I can see the wounded crawling slowly out from heaps of 

slain. 
Now they stagger, blind and bleeding ; now they fall, and 

strive to rise ; 
Hasten, sisters, haste and save them, lest they die before 

our eyes ! 

O my heart's love! O my dear one ! lay thy poor head on 

my knee ; 
Dost thou know the lips that kiss thee .? Canst thou hear 

me .'' canst thou see .-* 
O my husband, brave and gentle ! O my Bernal, look once 

more 
On the blessed cross before thee ! Mercy ! mercy ! all is 

o'er ! 

Third Sister. Dry thy tears, my poor Ximena ; lay thy dear 

one down to rest ; 
Let his hands be meekly folded, lay the cross upon his 

breast ; 



132 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i832- 

Let his dirge be sung hereafter, and his funeral masses 

said ; 
To-day, thou poor bereaved one, the living ask thy aid. 

Close beside her, faintly inoajiing, fair and young, a soldier 

lay, 
Torn with shot and pierced zvith lances, bleeding slow his 

life azvay ; 
But, as tenderly before him the lorn Ximena knelt, 
She sazv the Northern eagle shining on his pistol-belt. 

With a stifled cry of horror straight she turned azvay her 

head ; 
With a sad and bitter feeling looked she back npon Jier dead; 
But she Jieard the youth's lozv moaning, ajul his struggling 

breath of pain, 
And she raised the cooling zvatcr to his parching lips again. 

Whispered lozv the dying soldier, pressed her hand and 

faintly smiled : 
Was that pitying face his mothers? did she zvatch beside 

her child ? 
All his stranger zvords zvith meaning her zvomaiis Jieart 

supplied ; 
With Iter kiss upon his forehead, ''Mother!" murmured 

he, and died ! 

Second. A bitter curse upon them, poor boy, who led thee 

forth, 
From some gentle, sad-eyed mother, weeping, lonely, in the 

North ! 



1852] KEEPING THE UNION 1 33 

Spake the mournful Mexic ivoman, as she laid him witJi 

her dead, 
And turned to soothe the living, and bind the wounds 

zvJiich bled. 

First. Look forth once more, Ximena ! 

Second. Like a cloud before the wind 

Rolls the battle down the mountains, leaving blood and 
death behind ; 

Ah ! they plead in vain for mercy ; in the dust the wounded 
strive ; 

Hide your faces, holy angels ! O thou Christ of God, for- 
give ! 

Third. Sink, O Night, among thy mountains ! let the cool, 

gray shadows fall ; 
Dying brothers, fighting demons, drop thy curtain over all! 
Through the thickejting winter tivi light, wide apart the 

battle rolled, 
In its sheath the saber rested, and the camion s lips grew 

cold. 

But the noble Mexic women still their holy task pursued, 

Thi'ough that long, dark night of sorrozv, zvorn and faint 
and lacking food ; 

Over zveak and sujfering brothers, zvith a tender care they 
hung, 

And the dying foemen blessed them in a strange and North- 
ern tofisrue. 



134 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1832- 

JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 

Historical Note. The following selection is taken from A Short 
Notice of the Death and Character of Calhoun, which was published 
in Philadelphia in 1S50, over the pseudonym " Temple." • 

Mr. Calhoun's ambition was of the noblest, most inspirit- 
ing kind. It always sought great public ends through noble 
means. . . . His mind was formed to lead in great affairs; 
to go to the top. It was at the top always that he found 
his natural element. His erect form at that day, his fine 
eye, his constant energy and buoyant spirit, blended with 
a personal courtesy intrinsically and delightfully attractive, 
— who that witnessed all this in him (and there are those 
of us who did) can ever forget it, or fail, now that his spirit 
is fled, to exalt to the proper height his manly bearing, de- 
voted patriotism, and the whole bright galaxy of his merits .'' 
He did honor to Carolina. He was one of the props of the 
Union. The times were dark. Britain was our foe; her for- 
midable armies were upon our shores, just fresh from victory 
over Napoleon's troops in Spain. Some among our friends 
quailed, and there were hosts of our own people against us. 

The vindication of the national rights fell upon the 
Southern and Middle states — the new-born West cooper- 
ating. The North, as states, with splendid exceptions indi- 
vidually, protested against firing a gun. This is history. 
The gallant South stood up for the whole Union, on an indis- 
criminate estimate of duty to the whole, under the unpar- 
alleled aggressions of that day. Comparatively, she had 
scarcely a ship to be plundered or a seaman to be impressed. 
Calhoun never faltered. His fidelity to his country's honor, 
his exertions in her cause, were intense and unremitting. 




John C. Calhoun 



1852] KEEPING THE UNION 1 35 

THE STORY OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE 
Cyrus W. Field 

Biographical Note. Cyrus W. Field (i 819-1892) was an American 
merchant who successfully opened telegraphic communication between 
Europe and America. For many years he devoted his time and 
fortune to this end. 

Historical Note. In 1846 a telegraphic message was sent under 
the Hudson River by means of a wire covered with gutta-percha. 
This proved that it was practicable to send messages under water. 
The next step, very naturally, was an attempt to link the continents 
of Europe and America. 

In 1853 an interesting scheme was brought to my atten- 
tion. It was to carry a line of telegraph to Newfoundland, 
— including a cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, — 
and at St. John's to connect with a line of steamers to Ire- 
land, by which the time of communication might be reduced 
to five days. 

The project did not seem to me very formidable. It was 
no more difificult to carry a line to St. John's on this side 
than to some point on the Irish coast. But was this all that 
could be done ? 

Beside me in the library was a globe which I began to 
turn over to study the relative positions of Newfoundland 
and Ireland. Suddenly the thought flashed upon me, " Why 
not carry the line across the Atlantic .-* " 

That was the first moment that the idea ever entered my 
mind. It came as a vision of the night, and never left me 
until, thirteen years after, the dream was fulfilled. 

The first thing we had to do was to build a line of tele- 
graph four hundred miles through an uninhabited country, 



136 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i832- 

cutting our way through the forests, cHmbing hills, plun- 
ging into swamps, and crossing rivers. 

When we came to the Gulf of St. Lawrence we had our 
first experience in laying a submarine cable. It was but a 
short line, less than a hundred miles long, and yet we failed 
even in that ; and the attempt had to be renewed the fol- 
lowing year, when it was successful. 

Of course we felt a great satisfaction that we had got so 
far. We had crossed the land, but could we cross the sea ? 
As we stood upon the cliffs of Newfoundland and looked 
off upon the great deep, we saw that our greatest task was 
still before us. 

For this we had been preparing by preliminary investi- 
gations. Before we could embark in an enterprise of which 
there had been no example, we must know about the ocean 
itself, into which we were to venture. We had sailed over 
it, but who knew what was under it ? The cable must be 
on the bottom ; and what sort of bottom was it ? Smooth 
and even, or rugged as Switzerland, now sinking into deep 
abysses, and then rising in mountain chains over which the 
cable must hang suspended, to be swept to and fro by the 
deep undercurrents of the ocean ? 

Fortunately just then careful soundings by English and 
American navigators showed that the ocean bed was one 
vast plain, broader than the steppes of Siberia or the prairies 
of America, reaching nearly from shore to shore ; and in 
their surprise and joy the discoverers christened it the 
"telegraphic plateau," so much did it seem like a special 
conformation of the globe for the service of man. 

To make such a cable as we required, and to lay it at 
the bottom of the sea, would cost six hundred thousand 



1852] 



KEEPING THE UNION 



137 



pounds sterling, — three millions of dollars ! Where was 
all that money to come from ? Who would invest in such 
an enterprise ? 

I went from city to city, addressing chambers of com- 
merce and other financial bodies in England and the United 
States. All listened with respect, but such was the general 
incredulity that men were slow to subscribe. To show my 
faith by my works, I took one fourth of the whole capital 
myself. And so at last, 
with the help of a few, 
the necessary sum was 
secured and the work 
began. 

The year 1857 saw 
the cable on board of 
two ships furnished by 
the governments of 
England and the 
United States ; but 
these ships were hardly 
more than three hundred miles from the coast of Ireland 
when the cable broke and they had to return. So ended 
the first expedition. 

The next year we tried again and thought we could 
diminish the difficulty and the danger by beginning in 
the middle of the Atlantic and there splicing the cable, 
when the two ships should sail eastward and westward till 
they should land the two ends on the opposite shores. 
This plan was carried out. They reached mid ocean, and, 
splicing the cables together, the ships bore away for Ire- 
land and Newfoundland, but had not gone a hundred 




The Atlantic Cable 



138 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1832- 

miles before the cable broke. Several times we tried it 
with the same result. Then a storm arose, in which one 
of the ships, the Agamemnon, came near foundering ; and 
at last all were glad to get safely back again mto the shel- 
ter of an English port. 

Again the ships put to sea, but there was little enthusi- 
asm, for there were few in either hemisphere who expected 
anything but a repetition of our former experience. Such 
was the state of the public mind when, on the 5th of 
August, 1858, it was suddenly flashed over the country 
that the Niagara had reached Newfoundland, while the 
Agamemnon had reached Ireland, so that the expedition 
was a complete success. The revulsion of feeling was all 
the greater from the previous despondency, and for a few 
weeks everybody was wild with excitement. Then the mes- 
sages grew fewer and fainter, till at last they ceased alto- 
gether. The voices of the sea were dumb. 

Then came a reaction. Many felt that they had been 
deceived, and that no messages had ever crossed the 
Atlantic. Others, while admitting that there had been a 
few broken messages, yet concluded from the sudden fail- 
ure that a deep-sea cable must be subject to such interrup- 
tions that it could never be relied upon as a means of 
communication between the continents. 

In the next seven years ocean telegraphy made great 
progress. Other facilities we found that we had not before. 
The Great Eastern, which from- its enormous bulk had 
proved too unwieldy for ordinary commerce, was the only 
ship afloat that could carry the heavy cable ; the whole 
was coiled within her sides, and with the mighty burden of 
twenty thousand tons she put to sea. 



1H52J 



KEEPING THE UNION 



139 



Never had there been such a prospect of success. For 
twelve hundred miles she rode the sea in triumph, till in a 
sudden lurch of the ship the cable snapped, and once more 
all our hopes were 

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. 

For one whole month we hung over the spot, trying to 
raise the cable, but in vain ; and again we took our " mel- 
ancholy way" back across the waters which had been the 
scene of so many 
failures. 

This last disaster 
upset all our calcu- 
lations. Our cable 
was broken and our 
money was gone, 
and we must begin 
all over again. 

Fresh capital had 
to be raised to the 
amount of six hundred thousand pounds. That single 
lurch of the ship cost us millions of dollars and the delay 
of another year. 

But time brings round all things, and the next year, 
1866, the Great Eastern, laden with a new burden, once 
more swung her mighty hulk out on the bosom of the 
Atlantic. For fourteen days she bore steadily to the west, 
while we kept up our communication with the old world 
that we had left behind. 

Toward the end of the voyage we watched for the land 
as Columbus watched for the first sign of a new world. 




Great Eastern 



140 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i832- 

At length, on the twenty-seventh day of July, we cast 
anchor in Trinity Bay in the little harbor of Heart's Con- 
tent, that seemed to have been christened in anticipation 
of the joy of that hour. 

All the ship's crew joined to lift the heavy shore end out 
of the Great Eastern into the boats, and then to drag 
it up the beach to the telegraph house, where every signal 
was answered from Ireland, not in broken utterances, as 
with the old cable, but clearly and distinctly, as a man 
talks with his friend ; and we knew that the problem was 
solved, and that telegraphic communication was firmly 
established between the old world and the new. 



DANIEL WEBSTER 
John D. Long 

Biographical Note. John D. Long was born in Maine in 1838. 
He is an eminent lawyer and statesman, who has served his country 
in many capacities and always with distinction. 

Historical Note. Daniel Webster was born in New Hampshire 
in 1782. He was educated at Exeter Academy and Dartmouth Col- 
lege, graduating in 180 1. In 1805 he was admitted to the bar and 
soon became interested in politics. After serving both as representa- 
tive and senator, Webster became Secretary of State in 1850. Two 
years later he died. This address was delivered in 1882, on the 
hundredth anniversary of Webster's birth. 

A great man touches the heart of the people as well as 
their intelligence. They not only admire, they also love 
him. It sometimes seems as if they sought in him some 
weakness of our common human nature, that they might 
chide him for it, then forgive it, and so endear him to 
themselves the more. Massachusetts had her friction with 




Daniel Wehster 



1852] KEEPING THE UNION 141 

the younger Adams only to lay him away with profounder 
honor, and to remember him devotedly as the defender of 
the right of petition and " the old man eloquent." She for- 
gave the overweening conceit of Sumner ; she revoked her 
unjust censure of him, and now points her youth to him in 
his high niche as the unsullied patriot, without fear and 
without reproach, who stood and spoke for equal rights, 
and whose last great service was to demand and enforce 
his country's just claims against the dishonorable trespass 
of the cruisers of that England he had so much admired. 
Massachusetts smote and broke the heart of Webster, her 
idol, and then broke her own above his grave, and to-day 
writes his name highest upon her roll of statesmen. It 
seems disjointed to say that, with such might as his, the 
impression that comes from his face upon the wall, as from 
his silhouette upon the background of our history, is that 
of sadness, — the sadness of the great deep eyes, the sad- 
ness of the lonely shore he loved and by which he sleeps. 
But the story of Webster from the beginning is the very 
pathos of romance. A minor chord runs through it like 
the tenderest note in a song. What eloquence of tears is 
in that narrative, which reveals in this giant of intellectual 
strength the heart, the single, loving heart of a child, and 
in which he describes the winter sleigh ride up the New 
Hampshire hills, when his father told him that, at whatever 
cost, he should have a college education, and he, too full to 
speak, laid his head upon his father's shoulder and wept ! 

The greatness of Webster and his title to enduring 
gratitude have two illustrations. He taught the people 
of the United States, in the simplicity of common under- 
standing, the principles of the constitution and government 



142 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [1832- 

of the country; and he wrought for them, in a style of 
matchless strength and beauty, the literature of statesman- 
ship. From his lips flowed the discussion of constitutional 
law, of economic philosophy, of finance, of international 
right, of national grandeur, and of the whole range of high 
public themes, so clear and judicial that it was no longer 
discussion, but judgment. To-day, and so it will be while 
the republic endures, the student and the legislator turn 
to the full fountain of his statement for the enunciation of 
these principles. What other authority is quoted, or holds 
even the second or third place .-' Even his words have 
imbedded themselves in the common phraseology, and 
come to the tongue like passages from the Psalms or the 
poets. I do not know that a sentence or a word of Sum- 
ner's repeats itself in our everyday parlance. The exquisite 
periods of Everett are recalled like the consummate work 
of some master of music, but no note or refrain sings itself 
over and over again to our ears. The brilliant eloquence 
of Choate is like the flash of a bursting rocket, lingering 
upon the retina indeed after it has faded from the wings of 
night, but as elusive of our grasp as spray-drops that glisten 
in the sun. The fiery enthusiasm of Andrew did, indeed, 
burn some of his heart beats forever into the sentiment of 
Massachusetts ; but Webster made his language the very 
household words of a nation. They are the library of a 
people. They inspired and still inspire patriotism. They 
taught and still teach loyalty. They are the schoolbook of 
the citizen. They are the inwrought and accepted fiber 
of American politics. If the temple of our republic shall 
ever fall, they will " still live " above the ground, like those 
great foundation stones in ancient ruins which remain in 



1852] KEEPING THE UNION 143 

lonely grandeur, unburied in the dust that over all else 
springs to turf, and make men wonder from what rare 
quarry and by what mighty force they came. To Webster 
almost more than to any other man, — nay, at this distance, 
and in the generous spirit of this occasion, it is hard to dis- 
criminate among the lustrous names which now cluster at 
the gates of heaven as golden bars mass the west at sun- 
set, — yet to Webster especially of them all is it due 
that to-day, wherever a son of the United States, at home 
or abroad, " beholds the gorgeous ensign of the republic, 
now known and honored throughout the earth, still full 
high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their 
original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, not a sin- 
gle star obscured," he can utter a prouder boast than 
" Civis Romanus sum." For he can say, " I am an Amer- 
ican citizen." 

Selections from Prose and Poetry 

Bonneville's Adventure. — Irving. 

The Uncommercial Traveler. — Dickens. 

Kansas. — Sumner. 

Speeches. — Webster. 

Speeches. — Calhoun. 

John Brown of Ossawatomie. — Whittier. 

The Hunter of the Prairie. — Bryant. 

The Defence of the Alamo. — Miller. 

Far West Sketches. — Fremont. 

Books for Children 

Dred. — Stowe. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin. — Stowe. 

Antislavery Poems. — Whittier. 

Uncle Remus. — Harris. 

A New England Girlhood ^ — Larcom. 



144 



AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 



Teacher's List 

The Middle Period. — Burgess. 

Tlie Winning of the West. — Roosevelt. 

Building the Nation. — Coffin. 

Andrew Jackson. — Brown. 

Lincoln. — Schurz. 

Travels. — Dwight. 

American Notes. — Dickens. 

The Making of the Great West. — Drake. 

Hot Ploughshares. — Tourgee. 

Biglow Papers. — Lowell. 

Webster. — Lodge. 

Astoria. — Irving. 

The Hoosier Schoolmaster. — Eggleston. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE CIVIL WAR 

I believe that ffeedoin — free action, free enterprise, free compe- 
tition — will be found to be the best of auspices for every kind of 
human success. — Dewey. 

One flag, one land, one heart, one hand. 
One nation, evermore. — Holmes 

On to Richmond ! — Warren 

I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer. — Grant 

A star for every state, and a state for every star. — Winthrop 

Hold the fort. I am coming. — Sherman 

No other terms tlian unconditional and immediate surrender can 
be accepted. — Grant 

I retain these negroes as contraband of war. — Butler 

See, there is Jackson, standing like a stone wall ! — Bee 

That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, 
and that the government of the people, by the i^eople, for the people, 
shall not perish from the earth. — Lincoln 

With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in 
the right, as God gives us to see the right. — Lincoln 

For what avail the plough or sail, 
Or land or life, if freedom fail ? — Emerson 
145 



146 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [186I- 

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! 

Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! 

Humanity with all its fears, 

With all the hopes of future years, 

Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! — Longfellow 

Assassination has never changed the history of the world. 

DlSRAEH 

THE CAVALRY CHARGE 1 
George Parsons Lathrop 

Biographical Note. George Parsons Lathrop was born in the 
Hawaiian Islands in 1851, and died in New York in 1898. He mar- 
ried the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Mr. Lathrop was a novel- 
ist as well as a poet. 

Historical Note. This desperate charge, undertaken with full knowl- 
edge of its danger, occurred at the battle of Chancellorsville, May 2, 
1863. The battle lasted for two days, and in the end was a dearly- 
bought triumph to the Confederates, for it was in this engagement 
that Stonewall Jackson fell. 

" Cavalry, charge ! " Not a man of them shrank. 

Their sharp, full cheer, from rank on rank, 

Rose joyously, with a willing breath — 

Rose like a greeting hail to death. 

Then forward they sprang, and spurred and clashed ; 

Shouted the ofificers, crimson-sashed ; 

Rode well the men, each brave as his fellow, 

In their faded coats of the blue and yellow ; 

And above in the air, with an instinct true. 

Like a bird of war their pennon flew. 

With clank of scabbards and thunder of ste,eds, 
And blades that shine like sunlit reeds, 

1 From Dreams and Days. Copyright, 1892, by Charles Scribner's Sons. 



1865] THE CIVIL WAR I47 

And strong, brown faces bravely pale 

For fear their proud attempt shall fail, 

Line after line the troopers came 

To the edge of the wood that was ringed with flame ; 

Rode in and sabered and shot — and fell ; 

Nor came one back his wounds to tell. 

Line after line — ay, whole platoons, 

Struck dead in their saddles, of brave dragoons 

By the maddened horses were onward borne 

And into the vortex flung trampled and torn. 

But over them, lying there, shattered and mute, 
What deep echo rolls ? 'Tis a death-salute 
From the cannon in place ; for, heroes, you braved 
Your fate not in vain : the army was saved ! 

From Keena)i's Charge 

DEDICATION OF GETTYSBURG CEMETERY 

Abraham Lincoln 

Biographical Note. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 
1809. His childhood was one of toil and hardship, but he gradually 
rose to the highest position in the land. He stands next to Washing- 
ton in the memory of the American people. Lincoln was assassinated 
in 1865. 

Historical Note. In June, 1863, General Lee entered Pennsylvania, 
Intending to capture Harrisburg and Philadelphia. He was defeated 
at Gettysburg in one of the most important battles of the war. On 
November 1 9, 1863, the battlefield was dedicated as a national cemetery. 

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth 
on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and 
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 



148 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [I86I- 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether 
that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, 
can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of 
that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field 
as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives 
that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and 
proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot 
consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave 
men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated 
it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world 
will little note nor long remember what we say here, but 
it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the 
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work 
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly ad- 
vanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the 
great task remaining before us — that from these honored 
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which 
they gave the last full measure of devotion ; that we here 
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ; 
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of free- 
dom ; and that the government of the people, by the 
people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 




Abraham Lincoln 



1865] THE CIVIL WAR 149 

LITTLE GIFFEN OF TENNESSEE 

Francis O. Ticknor 

Biographical Note. Dr. Francis O. Ticknor (i 822-1874) was a 
physician of Columbus, Georgia. He wrote several poems of the 
Civil War. 

Out of the focal and foremost fire, 
Out of the hospital walls as dire, 
Smitten of grapeshot and gangrene, 
(Eighteenth battle, and Jic sixteen !) 
Specter such as you seldom see, 
Little Giffen of Tennessee ! 

" Take him — and welcome ! " the surgeons said ; 

" Little the doctor can help the dead ! " 

So we took him and brought him where 

The balm was sweet in the summer air ; 

And we laid him down on a wholesome bed — 

Utter Lazarus, heel to head ! 

And we watched the war with abated breath, — 
Skeleton Boy against skeleton Death, 
Months of torture, how many such ! 
Weary weeks of the stick and crutch ! 
And still a glint of the steel-blue eye 
Told of a spirit that would n't die, 

And didn't. Nay, more, in death's despite 
• The crippled skeleton learned to write ! 
" Dear mother," at first, of course ; and then, 
" Dear captain," inquiring about " the men." 
Captain's answer : " Of eighty and five, 
Giffen and I are left alive ! " 



I50 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [186I- 

Word of gloom from the war, one day ; 
Johnston pressed at the front, they say. 
Little Giffen was up and away ; 
A tear, his first, as he bade good-by. 
Dimmed the glint of his steel-blue eye. 
" I '11 write, if spared." There was news of the fight, 
But none of Giffen. He did not write. 

I sometimes fancy that were I king 

Of the princely knights of the Golden Ring, 

With the song of the minstrel in mine ear, 

And the tender legend that trembles here, 

I 'd give the best, on his bended knee. 

The whitest soul of my chivalry. 

For Little Giffen of Tennessee ! 



O CAPTAIN ! MY CAPTAIN ! 

Walt Whitman 

Biographical Note. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is usually counted 
among the greatest American poets, though there are many who do 
not share this opinion. 

Historical Note. The death of Lincoln by an assassin's bullet, 
April 14, 1865, was a blow from which the whole nation suffered. 

O Captain ! my Captain ! our fearful trip is done ; 

The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is 

won ; 
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, 
While foUow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and 

daring ; 



1865} THE CIVIL WAR 151 

But O heart ! heart ! heart ! 
O the bleeding drops of red, 

Where on the deck my Captain Hes, 
Fallen cold and dead. 

O Captain ! my Captain ! rise up and hear the bells ; 

Rise up — for you the flag is flung — for you the bugle 

trills ; 
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths — for you the 

shores acrowding ; 
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces 
turning ; 
Here Captain ! dear father ! 
This arm beneath your head ! 

It is some dream that on the deck 
You 've fallen cold and dead. 

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still ; 
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will ; 
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and 

done, — 
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won ; 
Exult O shores, and ring O bells ! 
But I with mournful tread. 

Walk the deck my Captain lies, 
Fallen cold and dead. 



152 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [186I- 

THE BLUE AND THE GRAY 

Francis M. Finch 

Historical Note. At Columbus, Mississippi, on Memorial Day, 
1867, flowers were strewn upon the graves of both Northern and 
Southern soldiers. 

By the flow of the inland river, 

Wlience the fleets of iron have fled, 
Where the blades of the grave grass quiver, 
Asleep are the ranks of the dead : 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment day ; 
Under the one, the Blue, 
Under the other, the Gray. 

These in the robings of glory, 

Those in the gloom of defeat, 
All with the battle-blood gory. 
In the dusk of eternity meet : 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment day ; 
Under the laurel, the Blue, 
Under the willow, the Gray. 

From the silence of sorrowful hours 

The desolate mourners go. 
Lovingly laden with flowers 

Alike for the friend and the foe : 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day ; 
Under the roses, the Blue, 
Under the lilies, the Gray. 



1865] THE CIVIL WAR 153 

So with an equal splendor 

The morning sun-rays fall, 
With a touch impartially tender, 
On the blossoms blooming for all : 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment day ; 
Broidered with gold, the Blue, 
Mellowed with gold, the Gray. 

So, when the summer calleth. 
On forest and field of grain, 
With an equal murmur falleth 
The cooling drip of the rain : 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day ; 
Wet with the rain, the Blue, 
Wet with the rain, the Gray. 

Sadly, but not with upbraiding. 

The generous deed was done ; 
In the storm of the years that are fading, 
No braver battle was won : 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment day ; 
Under the blossoms, the Blue, 
Under the garlands, the Gray. 

No more shall the war-cry sever, 

Or the winding rivers be red ; 
They banish our anger forever 

When they laurel the graves of our dead ! 



154 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i86l- 

Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment day ; 
Love and tears for the Blue, 

Tears and love for the Gray. 



UNION AND LIBERTY 
Oliver Wendell Holmes 

Flag of the heroes who left us their glory, 

Borne through their battlefields' thunder and flame, 

Blazoned in song and illumined in story, 
Wave o'er us all who inherit their fame ! 

Up with our banner bright, 

Sprinkled with starry light. 
Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore ; 

While through the sounding sky 

Loud rings the Nation's cry, — 
Union and Liberty ! — one evermore ! 

Light of our firmament, guide of our nation, 
Pride of her children, and honored afar. 

Let the wide beams of thy full constellation 
Scatter each cloud that would darken a star ! 

Empire unsceptered! what foe shall assail thee. 
Bearing the standard of Liberty's van ? 

Think not the God of thy fathers shall fail thee. 
Striving with men for the birthright of man ! 



1865J THE CIVIL WAR 1 55 

Lord of the universe ! shield us and guide us, 
Trusting thee always, through shadow and sun ! 

Thou hast united us, who, shall divide us ? 
Keep us, oh keep us the Many in One ! 

THE REPUBLIC 
Henry W. Longfellow 

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! 

Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! 

Humanity with all its fears, 

With all the hopes of future years, 

Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 

We know what Master laid thy keel. 

What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, 

Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, 

What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 

In what a forge and what a heat 

Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! 

Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 

'Tis of the wave and not the rock ; 

'Tis but the flapping of the sail, ^ 

And not a rent made by the gale ! 

In spite of rock and tempest's roar. 

In spite of false hghts on the shore. 

Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! 

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee. 

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears. 

Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 

Are all with thee, — are all with thee ! 

From The Building of the Ship 



156 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 

Selections from Prose and Poetry 

Battle Hymn of the Republic. — Howe. 

Jonathan to John. — Lowell. 

The Cumberland. — Longfellow. 

Kearney at Seven Pines. — Stedman. 

Barbara Frietchie. — Whittier 

Sheridan's Ride. — Read. 

High Tide at Gettysburg. — Thompson. 

Gettysburg. — Stedman. 

Hymn after the Emancipation Proclamation. — Holmes. 

The Flag Restored on Sumter. — Beecher. 

The Reveille. — Harte. 

Dixie. — Pike. 

Commemoration Ode. — Lowell. 



Books for Children 

Boys of '61. — Coffin. 
Hospital Sketches. — Alcott. 
Winning his Way. — Coffin. 
Stories of the War. — Hale. 
On the Plantation. — Harris. 
The Lost Army. — Knox. 
Two Little Confederates. — Page. 
Following the Flag. — Coffin. 
Sailor Boys of '61. — Soley. 
Cudjo's Cave. — Trowbridge. 
Romance of the Civil War. — Hart. 

Teacher's List 

Lincoln. — Morse. 

History of United States. — Schuyler. 

History of United States. — Rhodes. 

Story of the Civil War. — Rope. 

The Crisis. — Churchill. 

The Red Badge of Courage. — Crane. 

Flower de Hundred. — Harrison. 

The Thinking Bayonet. — Hosmer. 

U. S. Grant. — Allen. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 

I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws 
so effectual as their strict construction. — Grant 

Look up and not down, 
Look forward and not back, 

Look out and not in, — 

And lend a hand. — H.'vle 

He serves his party best who serves his country best. — Hayes 

Unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation. — Hewitt 

The public offices are a public trust. — Crapo 

A true American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the 
fact that honor lies in honest toil. — Cleveland 

I have considered the pension list of the republic a roll of honor. 

Cleveland 

The Constitution in all its provisions looks to an indestructible 
Union composed of indestructible States. — Chase 

The eternal principle of justice which must control us is that 
government exists for the benefit of the governed Abbott 

It is not in the power of any people upon earth much to harm us, 
except our own people. — Harrison 

We shall continue as we have begun, — to make these people 
whom Providence has brought within our jurisdiction feel that it is 
their liberty and not our power, their welfare and not our gain, we 
are seeking to enhance. Our flag has never waved over any com- 
munity but in blessing. — McKinley 

157 



158 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87i- 

THE CHICAGO FIRE 

M. A. Shorey 

Historical Note. On the evening of October 9, 1871, a fire broke 
out in a stable in Cliicago. Aided by a high wind, the flames rapidly 
gained headway and for two days raged through the finest parts of 
the city. More than three square miles were burned over, and about 
a hundred thousand people were left homeless. Mrs. M. A. Shorey, 
a contributor to the Old and New ^ was an eyewitness of the great fire. 

Up Clark Street, silent and almost deserted, we drove. 
Still on, — and soon we passed the Michigan Southern 
Station, looming up more grandly beautiful than ever 
against the background of flames upon the western sky. 

North again on La Salle Street we came in sight of 
Adams Street bridge, — its western viaduct was smoking, 
— while southwest of the old armory there was the fire, 
well under way on the east side of the south branch ! All 
the engines were on the other side of the river, and a gale 
from the southwest was catching up the burning brands 
and hurling them in a thick shower over the fairest busi- 
ness buildings of the city. 

Amazed, awe-struck, we looked in one another's faces. 
The streets through which we were passing were still quiet 
and comparatively empty. As we approached the Cham- 
ber of Commerce the cinders fell thicker and thicker about 
our horse's feet. Why were people not out upon the roofs 
protecting them } Why, indeed! except that most of those 
interested were quietly sleeping miles away in the suburbs, 
utterly unconscious of the wild ruin with which the hour 
was teeming. 

. . . Up the dark staircases and through the dim corri- 
dors and halls we toiled. Out under the open sky the gale 



1905] THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 159 

nearly took me from my feet. Hastily clinging to the near- 
est structure for support, I turned my face to the northwest. 
No words can suggest to the most vivid imagination the 
grandeur of that scene. Of all the hundreds of noble build- 
ings lying in that direction not one was distinguishable. 
Broad and far before us stretched only that mighty ocean 
of fire. From its seething bosom huge billows, tossing, 
surging, swelling, went leaping on, on, as far as the eye 
could reach. Like uncaged monsters they seemed as they 
tore madly on with wild roar and rumble. What hand could 
stay their work ? 

Our position was by no means a comfortable one. The 
air was dense with smoke and sand ; the cinders, falling thick 
about our feet, were beaten out the instant they fell, but 
were liable to catch at any moment. The deafening roar of 
the gale, the hissing crackling of the flames, and the heavy 
thud of falling walls made conversation almost impossible. 

" Let us go," I said. The pain and horror of the scene 
had already conquered my sense of its beauty. Slowly, with 
hushed voices, we crept through the dark corridors and 
down the stairs. . . . 

Men stood about gazing at the progress of the fire as 
if paralyzed in helpless despair. In front of the Palmer 
House the street was blocked with teams, and the sidewalk 
with baggage and people. The fire had passed that point 
three hours before on its way north, but now seemed creep- 
ing back. Women and children were rushing with arms 
full of clothing and bedding across the avenue to the lake 
front. ... 

Early in the afternoon of Monday word came that the 
fire was arrested in its southward course; but Tuesday 



l6o AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87i- 

morning found us still weary and anxious, for every hour 
brought to our ears sad tales of horror and suffering. 
Until noon of Tuesday we were ignorant of what was 
being done in our behalf, and the question, " How can 
we feed the hungry in our streets ? " was pressing on our 
hearts. Then came its answer in the form of unheard- 
of contributions of hundreds of car loads of cooked food 
from our sister cities, and eyes that had been dry through 
all the suffering and despair of the previous hours grew 
moist with gratitude. 

Of these charities no one to-day can adequately speak. 
Future historians will tell their story and future philoso- 
phers will point to them as proof that in the year 1871 the 
lesson of human brotherhood was learned at last. 



WELCOME TO THE NATIONS^ 

Oliver Wendell Holmes 

Historical Note. The following poem was written by Dr. Holmes 
for the Centennial Exposition and was sung at Philadelphia, July 4, 
1876. 

Bright on the banners of lily and rose, 

Lo, the last sun of our century sets ! 
Wreathe the black cannon that scowled on our foes, 

All but her friendships the Nation forgets — 

All but her friends and their welcome forgets ! 
These are around her ; but where are her foes .'' 

Lo, while the sun of her century sets. 
Peace with her garlands of lily and rose ! 

1 Sung at Philadelphia, July 4, 1876. 



1905] THE GROWTH OF THE NATION l6l 

Welcome ! a shout like the war trumpet's swell 

Wakes the wild echoes that slumber around ; 
Welcome! it quivers from Liberty's bell; 

Welcome ! the walls of her temple resound ; 

Hark ! the gray walls of her temple resound ; 
Fade the far voices o'er hillside and dell ; 

Welcome ! still whisper the echoes around; 
Welcome ! still trembles on Liberty's bell. 

Thrones of the Continents ! Isles of the Sea ! 

Yours are the garlands of peace we entwine ; 
Welcome, once more, to the land of the free, 

Shadowed alike by the palm and the pine ; 

Softly they murmur, the palm and the pine, 
" Hushed is our strife, in the land of the free "; 

Over your children their branches entwine, 
Thrones of the Continents ! Isles of the Sea ! 



HOW THE CHILDREN RANG THE BELL 
George. W, Cable 

Biographical Note. George W. Cable, a well-known novelist, was 
born in New Orleans in 1844. His stories of life in his native city 
are full of poetic charm. 

Historical Note. The Nova Scotian exiles from Acadia settled in 
large numbers in Louisiana. Their descendants came to be known 
as quiet, shy, self-respecting people, with no special ambitions or 
ability. Into this region, according to Mr. Cable's story, there comes 
a young Creole school-teacher, on fire with enthusiasm for learning 
and the new spirit of American progress. 

Where the fields go wild and grow into brakes, and the 
soil becomes fenny, on the northwestern edge of Grande 



l62 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87i- 

Pointe, a dark, slender thread of a bayou moves loiteringly 
northeastward into a swamp of huge cypresses. 

On a bank of this bayou, no great way from Grande 
Pointe, but with the shadow of the swamp at its back and 
a small, bright prairie of rushes and giant reeds stretching 
away from the opposite shore, stood, more in the water 
than on the land, the palmetto-thatched fishing and hunting 
lodge and only home of a man who on the other side of the 
Atlantic you would have known for a peasant of Normandy, 
albeit he was born in this swamp. 

In years he was but thirty-five ; but he was a widower, 
and the one son who was his only child and companion 
would presently be fourteen. 

"Claude," he said, as they rose that evening from their 
hard supper in the light and fumes of their small kerosene 
lamp, " We must go to bed." 

" Why ? " asked the sturdy lad. 

" Because," replied the father in the same strange French 
in which he had begun, "at daybreak to-morrow, and every 
day thereafter, you must be in your dugout on your way to 
Grande Pointe to school. My son, you are going to learn 
how to read ! " 

So came it that, until their alphabetical rearrangement, 
the first of all the thirty-five names on the roll was Claude 
St. Pierre. 

But even before the first rough roll was made he was 
present, under the little chapel tower, when for the first 
time its bell rang for school. The young master was there, 
and all the children ; so that really there was nothing to 
ring the bell for. They could, all together, have walked 
quietly across the village green to the forlorn tobacco shed 



1905J THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 163 

that served for a schoolhouse, and begun the session. Ah ! 
say not so ! It was good to ring the bell. A few of the 
stronger lads would even have sent the glad clang abroad 
before the time, but the schoolmaster restrained them. 
For one thing, there must be room for every one to bear 
a hand. So he tied above their best reach three strands 
of cord to the main rope. Even then he was not ready. 

" No, dear chil'run ; but grasp hold, every one, the ropes, 
the cawds, — the shavvt chil'run reaching up shawtly, the 
long chil'run the more longly." 

Few understood his words, but they quickly caught the 
idea, and yielded themselves eagerly to his arranging hand. 
The highest grasp was Claude's. There was a little empty 
space under it, and then one only of Sidonie's hands, timid, 
smooth, and brown. And still the master held back the 
word. 

" Not yet ! not yet ! The pear is not ripe ! " He stood 
apart from them, near the chapel door, where the light was 
strong, his silver watch open in his left hand, his form 
erect, his right hand lifted to the brim of his hat, his eyes 
upon the dial. 

"Not yet, dear chil'run. Not yet. Two minute mo'. — 
Be ready ! — Not yet ! — One minute mo' ! — Have the 
patience: — Hold every one in his aw her place. Be ready ! 
Have the patience." But at length, when the little ones 
were frowning and softly sighing with the pain of upheld 
arms, their waiting eyes saw his dilate. "Be ready!" he 
said, with low intensity. " Be ready ! " He soared to his 
tiptoes, the hat flounced from his head and smote his 
thigh, his eyes turned upon them blazing, and he cried, 
" Ring, chil'run, ring ! " 



164 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87l- 

The elfin crew leaped up the ropes and came crouching 
down. The bell pealed ; the master's hat swung round his 
head. His wide eyes were wet, and he cried again, " Ring ! 
ring! for God, light, liberty, education!" He sprang 
toward the leaping, sinking mass ; but the right feeling 
kept his own hands off. And up and down the children 
went, the bell answering from above, peal upon peal ; when 
just as they had caught the rhythm of Claude's sturdy pull, 
and the bell could sound no louder, the small cords gave 
way from their fastenings, the little ones rolled upon their 
backs, the bell gave one ecstatic double clang and turned 
clear over, the swift rope straightened upward from its 
coil, and Claude and Sidonie, her hands clasped upon each 
other about the rope and his hands upon hers, shot up 
three times as high as their finest leap could have carried 
them. For an instant they hung ; then with another peal 
the bell turned back and they came blushing to the floor. 
A swarm of hands darted to the rope, but Bonaventure's 
was on it first, 

"'Tis sufficient!" he said, his face all triumph. 

From George W. Cable's Bonaventure. 

Published by Charles Scribner's Sons. Copyright, 1887, 1888. 

A MODERN OBSERVATORY 

Edward S. Holden 

Biographical Note. Edward S. Holden, the distinguished astrono- 
mer, was born in St. Louis in 1846. For ten years he was director 
of the Lick Observatory. 

Historical Note. The famous observatory was built by Mr. Lick 
in one of the best situations in the world, — on the top of Mount 
Hamilton, in California. 




The Great Telescope of the Lick Observatory 



1905] THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 165 

The great Lick telescope was mounted in 1888, and was 
then the largest in the world. The object glass is three 
feet in diameter, and the tube is fifty-seven feet long. The 
telescope and mounting weigh thirty-seven tons, and the 
parts that move weigh nearly four tons. The highest mag- 
nifying power used on stars is about five thousand times. 
It is so arranged that photographs can be taken with it. 

The meridian circle can view a star only for the brief 
moments while the star is passing from east to west across 
the meridian. The instant it has left the field of view it is 
lost to sight until the next day, and then, again, it can be 
seen only for a moment. But some stars we wish to exam- 
ine for a long time continuously ; this is especially true of 
planets. 

We wish to point a telescope at them shortly after they 
rise in the east, and study their appearances during the 
whole of a long night, until they have sunk low in the west. 

To do this we must contrive a suitable mounting for our 
telescope. The small telescope-stands with three legs, such 
as every one has seen, will do for this purpose, but a much 
better form is the equatorial mounting, as it is shown in the 
pictures of the great telescope at Mount Hamilton. 

Here the telescope is directly attached to the latitude 
axis. Near the end of this axis is a divided circle, and the 
latitude of the star you wish to find is set off on this circle 
by moving the telescope. You are now pointed to the right 
latitude. The inclined axis just above the heavy iron stand 
is the longitude axis, and it also is provided with a circle. 
By turning the whole telescope, latitude axis and all, around 
this, the right longitude can be reached, and the star is seen 
in the eyepiece. 



l66 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87i- 

But the star is constantly moving from east to west, from 
rising to setting, and the telescope must also be moved to 
follow it. There is a provision for this too. 

There is a powerful clock in the uppermost section of 
the iron pier of the telescope mounting. If we start this 
clock and attach it, by merely turning a handle, to the 
telescope, we can make it drive the whole tube slowly from 
east to west, from rising to setting. 

If, for instance, the telescope is pointed to the sun about 
sunrise, and if the clock is kept wound up, the telescope 
will, of itself, follow the sun all day and will point directly 
to it at sunset. And it will do this accurately for any star. 

This is an enormous convenience in making visual obser- 
vations, for it saves the observer the trouble of moving the 
whole telescope to follow the star, which is continually 
moving from rising to setting. 

When we come to photographing the stars the clock is 
a still greater convenience. We want each star to make 
a neat round dot on the photographic plate, even if the 
exposure is quite long, — several hours, for instance. 
Hence it is absolutely essential to have the telescope and 
the photographic plate follow the star precisely during 
the whole exposure. 



1905] THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 167 

THE X-RAYS 
Ray Stannard Baker 

Biographical Note. Ray Stannard Baker was born in Michigan in 
1870. His contributions to current literature are well known. The 
following extracts from his Boy^s Book of Invoitions are self-ex- 
planatory. 

Historical Note. The second half of the nineteenth century wit- 
nessed the greatest advance in scientific knowledge the world has 
ever known. The United States can claim a large share of the great 
works accomplished by scientists, among whom Thomas Edison 
stands foremost. 

Edison, the greatest of American inventors, took up the 
work [of developing X-rays] with great enthusiasm ; and 
he shortly invented a curious but simple device by means 
of which one may actually see the bones of the hand or 
foot through the flesh. He called it a fluoroscope. . . . 
By holding this box between one's eyes and a Crookes 
tube, and placing one hand on the sensitive cardboard, 
the X-rays will readily pierce the flesh, and the dark 
shadow of the skeleton hand may be seen. 

One of the strangest uses to which X-rays have been 
put was in the instance of a Philadelphia woman. She had 
been traveling in Egypt, and had brought home what she 
believed to be the hand of a mummy. But some of her 
friends told her how Egyptian curiosities are likely to be 
manufactured and sold to unsuspecting travelers as genuine 
relics. One friend, himself a great traveler, assured her 
that she had bought a mere mass of pitch, plaster of Paris, 
and refuse mummy cloth, not a hand. For a long time 
there was no way of deciding the question, until at last the 



l68 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87i- 

owner of the relic had an X-ray photograph taken. And 
lo, and behold ! there in the picture was the complete skele- 
ton of the hand of some ancient Egyptian ; the relic was 
genuine, after all. 

THE PHONOGRAPH 

*' I remember," John Ott told me, "that Edison had been 
working at his bench in the laboratory nearly all day. . . . 
Quite suddenly he jumped up and said with some excite- 
ment : . . . ' I can make a talking machine ! ' Then he sat 
down again and drew the designs of his proposed machine 
on a slip of yellow paper. I don't think it took him above 
ten minutes altogether." 

On the margin of that design Edison marked " $8," and 
handed it to his foreman, John Kruesi. 

'< My men all worked by the piece in those days," Mr. 
Edison told me, "and when I wanted a model made I 
always marked the price on it. . . . Kruesi went to work 
at it the same day, and I think he had it completed within 
thirty-six hours. We used to try all sorts of things, and 
most of them were failures ; so that I did n't expect much 
from the new model, at least at first, although I knew it 
was correct in principle." 

But Kruesi fitted the tin foil on the cylinder and 
brought the machine to Mr. Edison. The inventor turned 
the handle and spoke into the mouthpiece : 

"Mary had a little lamb. 

Its fleece was white as snow, 
And everywhere that Mary went 
The lamb was sure to go." 



J905] THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 169 

Then he set the recorder back to the starting place and 

began to turn the cyhnder. 

At the very best he had not expected to hear more than 

a burring confusion of sounds, but to his astonishment and 

awe the machine began to repeat in a curious, metalhc, 

distant voice : 

" Mary had a little lamb ..." 

And thus the first words ever spoken by a phonograph 
were the four simple lines of a nursery rhyme. 

LIQUID AIR 

Liquid air has many curious properties. It is nearly 
as heavy as water and quite as clear and limpid, although 
when seen in the open air it is always muffled in the dense 
white mist of evaporation which wells up over the edge of 
the receptacle in which it stands, and rolls out along the 
floor in beautiful billowy clouds. . . . 

It is a curious thing to see liquid air placed in a teapot 
boiling vigorously on a block of ice ; but it must be remem- 
bered that ice is nearly as much warmer than liquid air as 
a stove is warmer than water, so that it makes liquid air 
boil just as the stove makes water boil. If this same teapot 
is placed over a gas flame, a thick coating of ice will at once 
collect on the bottom between the kettle and the blaze, 
and no amount of heat seems enough to melt it. . . . 

" The time is certainly coming," says Mr. Tripler, " when 
every great packing house, every market, every hospital, 
every hotel, and many private houses will have plants for 
making liquid air. ... In the future hotel, guests will call 
for cool rooms in summer with as much certainty of getting 



I/O AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87i- 

them as they now call for warm rooms in winter. . . . 
Think of the value of a * cold ward ' in a hospital, where 
the air could be kept absolutely fresh, and where nurses and 
friends could visit the patient without fear of infection." 

From TJie Boys Book of hiveiitions 

THE FLAG 

Charles F. Dole 

Biographical Note. The Rev. Charles F. Dole is a Massachusetts 
preacher and writer who has taken special pains to bring high ideals 
of citizenship before young readers. 

Men like to have some sort of sign or emblem of the 
things which they believe in. If they belong to a society, 
they often wear a badge or a pin. The cross for Christians 
is a sign of their common religion. It is only a sign, but it 
reminds men of ideas and their faith. So with the flags of 
the nations. The flag reminds us of the common country, 
of its liberties and its laws, of the men, our forefathers or 
our friends, who have laid down their lives for it. The 
traveler in distant lands sees the American flag floating 
over a building in a foreign city and he knows by that 
token that there is a friend — possibly an officer of his 
government, a consul or a minister — with whom he can 
speak a common language. The sailor boy from the coast 
of Maine or Cape Cod, crossing the ocean or sailing into 
the port of Hamburg or Liverpool, picks out the American 
flag and knows where other American sailors are. Boys 
and girls see the flag floating over their schoolhouses and 
know by that sign that they are as one with other school 
children out in California or down in Alabama. There is 



1905] THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 171 

no East and West, North and South, separate from each 
other, but all the people under the flag are one. 

We do not learn by this to hate and despise the other 
flags of Englishmen and Germans and Dutch. We do not 
imagine that our flag is the only flag that looks beautiful 
to the children under it. We learn rather how the other 
peoples feel about their flags. They have ideas also of a 
common country ; they have their memories of brave and 
true men. We know precisely how they feel, because we 
have felt the same. We like and respect them for their 
loyal feeling to their different flags. We should be sorry if 
they had no love for their country. Because we love our 
own flag and could not bear to see it injured, we want to 
see no insult done to any flag that floats over loyal hearts. 
We who love the flag of our Union are not separate from 
other peoples ; we are all the nearer to them, and we wish 
them well. 

CAPTAIN ALLYN CAPRON OF THE ROUGH RIDERS^ 
Theodore Roosevelt 

Biographical Note. Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United 
States, was born in 1858. His life has been a series of successes 
won by his courage, determination, and ability. 

Historical Note. At the beginning of the war with Spain, in 1898, 
Theodore Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, resigned 
his office in order to raise a force of volunteer cavalrv. This regi- 
ment was known as the " Rough Riders." 

Captain Allyn Capron was on the whole the best soldier 
in the regiment of the Rough Riders. He was the ideal of 

1 From The Rough Riders, pp. 18, 19, 95. Copyright, 1S99, by Charles 
Scribner's Sons. 



1/2 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87i- 

what an American regular army officer should be. He was 
the fifth in descent from father to son who had served in 
the army of the United States, and in body and mind alike 
he was fitted to play his part to perfection. Tall and lithe, 
a remarkable boxer and walker, a first-class rider and shot, 
with yellow hair and piercing blue eyes, he looked what he 
was, the archetype of the fighting man. He had under him 
one of the two companies from the Indian Territory ; and 
he so soon impressed himself upon the wild spirit of his 
followers that he got them ahead in discipline faster than 
any other troop in the regiment. His ceaseless effort was 
so to train them, care for them, and inspire them as to 
bring their fighting efficiency to the highest possible pitch. 
He required instant obedience, and tolerated not the 
slightest evasion of duty ; but his mastery of his art was 
so thorough, and his performance of his own duty so rigid, 
that he won at once not merely their admiration but 
that soldierly affection so readily given by the man in the 
ranks to the superior who cares for his men and leads 
them fearlessly in battle. At the very outset of active 
service Captain Capron, leading the advance guard in per- 
son, displaying equal coolness and courage in the way 
that he handled them, was struck, and died a few minutes 
afterwards, as gallant a man as ever wore uniform. 



1905] THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 173 

SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE PHILIPPINES 
Adeline R. Knapp 

Biographical Note. Adeline R. Knapp is an American journalist 
and writer. Miss Knapp went to the Philippines in 1901 and spent 
six months traveling in the islands. 

Historical Note. One of the chief aims of the United States in the 
Philippines has been to establish good schools. Many American 
teachers were sent out to introduce American methods and ideals. 




The children who attend these schools are much like 
other school children. The Filipinos are a very dignified 
people ; indeed, their dignity is greater than that of the 
Americans, and the children are almost as dignified as 
their elders. They are very polite, and it is pleasant to see 



174 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87i- 

their cheerful greeting of the teachers when they come to 
school in the morning. They bring offerings of fruit and 
flowers, just as American children do. They study and are 
lazy, they whisper and are naughty, very much after the 
manner of American children. When closing time comes 
they are as eager as children everywhere to be off and out 
of doors to play. 

But they are quick to learn. It is wonderful to note 
their progress in Enghsh. One of the American teachers, 
a few months after her arrival in Manila, collected a few 
books and started a small circulating library among her 
boys. They had been studying English for four months. 
One boy, about twelve years old, just an average Manila 
boy of the middle class, came to her one morning with the 
book he had been reading. 

" Three stories of these I have read, teacher, and I enjoy 
them very much," he said. The book was that one dear to 
so many American boys, — Ten Boys on the Road from 
Long Ago to Nozv. It is good to learn that the Filipino 
boys' hearts are so like our own. 

In Manila and several other cities normal schools have 
been opened. These are well attended by young Filipino 
men and women, who will in time be able to fill the places 
of the American teachers. Many of them were school- 
teachers in and about the cities, under the old rule. They 
realize, however, that they are not well prepared for their 
work. It is a very good sign that they are willing to go to 
school again and fit themselves to teach their people. 



190.-,] THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 175 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
Theodore Roosevelt 

Historical Note. The address from vvhicli the following selection 
is taken was delivered on March 4, 1905. 

My fellow-citizens : No people on earth have more cause 
to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no 
spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude 
to the Giver of good, who has blessed us with the conditions 
which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of 
well-being and of happiness. To us as a people it has been 
granted to lay the foundations of our national life in a new 
continent. We are the heirs of the ages, and yet we have 
had to pay few of the penalties which in old countries are 
exacted by the dead hand of a bygone civiUzation. We have 
not been obliged to fight for our existence against any alien 
race ; and yet our life has called for the vigor and effort 
without which the manlier and hardier virtues wither away. 
Under such conditions it would be our own fault if we failed ; 
and the success which we have had in the past, the success 
which we confidently believe the future will bring, should 
cause in us no feeling of vainglory, but rather a deep and 
abiding realization of all which life has offered us ; a full 
acknowledgment of the responsibility which is ours ; and a 
fixed determination to show that under a free government 
a mighty people can thrive best, alike as regards the things 
of the body and the things of the soul. . . . 

Our relations with the other powers of the world are 
important ; but still more important are our relations among 
ourselves. Such growth in wealth, in population, and in 



176 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE [i87i- 

power as this nation has seen during the century and a 
quarter of its national life is inevitably accompanied by a like 
growth in the problems which are ever before every nation 
that rises to greatness. Power invariably means both re- 
sponsibility and danger. Our forefathers faced certain perils 
which we have outgrown. We now face other perils the 
very existence of which it was impossible that they should 
foresee. Modern life is both complex and intense, and the 
tremendous changes wrought by the extraordinary indus- 
trial development of the half-century are felt in every fiber 
of our social and political being. Never before have men 
tried so vast and formidable an experiment as that of ad- 
ministering the affairs of a continent under the forms of 
a democratic republic. The conditions which have told for 
our marvelous material well-being, which have developed to 
a very high degree our energy, self-reliance, and individual 
initiative, also have brought the care and anxiety inseparable 
from the accumulation of great wealth in industrial centers. 
Upon the success of our experiment much depends, not 
only as regards our own welfare, but as regards the welfare 
of mankind. If we fail, the cause of free self-government 
throughout the world will rock to its foundations ; and there- 
fore our responsibility is heavy, to ourselves, to the world 
as it is to-day, and to the generations yet unborn. There 
is no good reason why we should fear the future, but there is 
every reason why we should face it seriously, neither hiding 
from ourselves the gravity of the problems before us nor 
fearing to approach these problems with the unbending, 
unflinching purpose to solve them aright. 

Yet, after all, though the problems are new, though the 
tasks set before us differ from the tasks set before our 



1905] THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 177 

fathers who founded and preserved this repubhc, the spirit 
in which these tasks must be undertaken and these prob- 
lems faced, if our duty is to be well done, remains essen- 
tially unchanged. We know that self-government is difficult. 
We know that no people needs such high traits of char- 
acter as that people which seeks to govern its affairs aright 
through the freely expressed will of the free men who com- 
pose it. But we have faith that we shall not prove false 
to the memories of the men of the mighty past. They did 
their work ; they left us the splendid heritage we now enjoy. 
We in our turn have an assured confidence that we shall 
be able to leave this heritage unwasted and enlarged to our 
children and our children's children. To do so, we must 
show, not merely in great crises but in the everyday affairs 
of life, the qualities of practical intelligence, of courage, of 
hardihood and endurance, and above all the power of devo- 
tion to a lofty ideal, which made great the men who founded 
this republic in the days of Washington, which made great 
the men who preserved this republic in the days of Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Selections from Prose and Poetry 

The Death of Grant. — Bierce. 

General Grant. — Abbey. 

The Chicago Fire. — Whittier. 

Civil Service Reform. — Schurz. 

Unguarded Gates. — Aldrich. 

Mannahatta. — Whitman. 

Robert E. Lee. — Trent. 

Autobiography of Seventy Years (Vol. II). — Hoar. 



178 AMERICAN HISTORY IN LITERATURE 



Books for Children 

Plantation Pageants. — Harris. 
The Log of a Cowboy. — Adams. 
Boys of '98. — Otis. 
The Hero of Manila. — Johnson. 
The Armed Ship of America. — Otis. 
Off Santiago with Sampson. — Otis. 
When Dewey came to Manila. — Otis. 
Marching with Gomez. — Flint. 

Teacher's List 

History of the United States.— Schouler. 

The 19th Century. — McKenzie. 

History of the Last Quarter Century. — Andrews. 

Reconstruction Period. — Burgess. 

A Fool's Errand. — Tourgee. 

Bricks without Straw. —Tourgee. 

Red Rock. — Page. 

Ramona. — Jackson. 

Campaigning in Cuba. — Ken nan. 

The Rough Riders. — Roosevelt. 

Cuban and Porto Rican Campaigns. — Davis. 

The End of an Era. — Wise. 

Army Life in a Black Regiment. — Higginson. 

Voyage of the Jeannette. — De Long. 

The Land of Little Rain. — Austin. 

Our National Parks. — MuiR. 

Picturesque Alaska. — Woodman. 



